Survival
by Nobility
Summary: Vakama, Onewa, Nuju and Whenua are captured by the Visorak, leaving an injured Matau and Nokama to save them. But Roodaka has something sinister in store for them. Will the Toa ever fulfill their duty? Chapter 6- OMG UPDATE?
1. Captured and Crippled

A/N: Mwuahahahahahahaha! Nobility strikes again, with yet another ficcy of DOOOOOOM!

Muses: Yaaaay. sarcasm

Shut it, foos. Honestly, I had originally intended this thing to be another shippy fic, probably lasting about three chapters, but as I began to work on it, I just got bombarded with so many ideas, it manifested into something totally different. Now it's more of an adventurous, dramatic-ish storyish thingy...ish. Er, whatever. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own Bionicle. And you better be thankful I don't!

_Chapter 1_

Matau remembered the time he had been first transformed into a Toa Metru. At the time, it had felt like a wondrous dream. He felt powerful, brave, strong, and handsome. He felt like he could take on the entire world, and he wanted to. No matter how bleak the situation seemed, he always felt, with his Toa powers, he would prevail. He had gladly accepted his new duties and had never wished at any time to return to his old ways as a simple Matoran.

Those thoughts and feelings had been completely shattered ever since he became a Hordika.

Now, instead of a handsome, gallant warrior of wind, he looked like a hideous monster that would haunt his dreams. Matau had always been very self-concious and sensitive about himself, sometimes even to the point of arrogance. But it wasn't just his looks that disturbed him. As a Toa, he felt powerful, courageous. He had a strong bond with his powers, and he loved it. Now, he had lost those powers, replaced by a terrible anger and strength that only seemed to come forth in fits of rage, and where often times even his own team members would not be spared his wrath.

It also didn't help that he was continually hunted down by hordes of spiderous creatures known as Visorak.

It also definately did not do any good that he was currently locked in a desperately battle against said arachnards.

Matau cringed in pain as he felt a sharp object propell through the air and slash at his left shoulder. Blood began to drip down his twisted arm, but he paid no mind to it as the pain was so blinding. It took everything he had not to cry out in agony. Instead, with his other, much shorter arm, Matau lashed out at the attacker, a Keelerak with his weapons. He let loose a rare smile as he saw the sword come in contact with flesh and literally chop a single leg off. The Visorak lost its balance, stunned by the sudden pain, was open to another attack, which Matau gleefully took.

_One down, a million to go,_ Matau thought grimly as he narrowly avoided a Keelerak spinner. He hunched down to his knees and was prepared to launch his own rhotuka when something hard knocked into him, forcing him on his back. He found himself pinned down to a Keelerak, its large pincers threatening to snap away at his neck-

In another instant, the creature was blown off of him by a red blur. The creature burst into flames, letting out what appeared to be weak wails of pain.

Matau weakly got up, wincing as he felt his shoulder begin to throb again. He turned to his savior, intending to thank him, but frowned when he saw who it was. "Vakama..."

The Red Hordika hardly even acknowledged him. Instead, he lashed out at a nearby Visorak, clawing and biting at it. Matau glanced away, he had no desire to see such gore.

The six Hordika and Rahaga had been searching around Le-Metru for some supplies when they were suddenly ambushed by the hordes. _Did they plan for this...?_ Matau wondered, as he slashed another Keelerak. _We practically walked-strolled right into their trap...! No, Vakama lead us... this is all his fault! Like always..._ Deep down, he knew it wasn't really Vakama's fault completely, but ever since the transformation, he had taken to blaming everything bad happening to them on the leader, however true or not. It was cruel and unfair, but Matau had been stuck in such a state of depression, that blaming the man who seemed to be the main cause of all his pain gave him a little escape from his grief. Besides, it wasn't like Vakama ever tried to justify himself, he usually took the insults quietly, then would go off to slaughter some poor innocent creature in anger.

"They just keep coming!" a voice hissed angrily from beside him. Matau glanced at the speaker, Onewa, as he fended off several Visorak with his claws.

"Perhaps we should try to retreat," a female voice piped up. Nokama had just finished swiping away a Keelerak with her fin barbs. It was obvious from her tone and face that she was beginning to tire. Everyone was, they had been fighting practically since nightfall, and dawn was soon approaching. _Had it really been that long...?_

"If you see an opening to run, be my guest to point it out." Nuju snapped sarcastically.

"It would be best if we attempt to escape," Norik, a small red rahaga said. "There is a chance."

Nuju simply snorted in response.

Matau was all too happy to agree with the blue Hordika's plan, but his reply was cut short when all of a sudden a blinding pain overtook him. A Keelerak had launched its self straight at him, its pincers open and ready. The pincers found its mark around his waist and bit into his skin. He let out a cry of agony as he was thrown backwards by the force of the blow and into a tree, feeling his hips grow wet with blood. The Visorak buried its pincers deeper into his body and attempted to pin him the wood, and Matau could've sworn through his haze of pain that he saw the spider smirk.

Suddenly, the creature was torn away from his vision by a black blur. Whenua had grabbed it and yanked it out of the tree, before slicing it in half with his claws.

Matau dropped to the floor, his body practically numb all over. He felt light-headed, and it was difficult to stay awake. He managed to look up at his savior and smile slightly. "Th-thanks... Whenua..." he breathed, unconcious-ness threatening to overtake him.

The expression on the black Hordika's face was grim. "Don't thank me yet, we're still not safe." he said. As if to prove his point, a Keelerak acid spinner whizzed by his face, slightly greasing the edge of his mask.

Not wasting anymore time, Whenua draped Matau's uninjured arm around his shoulder, careful to make sure he didn't touch any of his other wounds, and began to make his way to a nearby structure for cover. The others had formed a circle around them, protecting them from the Visorak.

Iruini lightly tapped Matau. "Matau. Can you see me?" he asked.

"Y-yes..." _Unfortunately..._ Matau nodded his head.

"Listen to me. You cannot fall asleep, Matau. Do you understand? If you do, you will die." Iruini explained, his voice dead serious.

"This is bad..." Nokama muttered, as she was watched the Visorak slowly surround them. "We have to find a way to get Matau out of here..."

"Tell us something we _don't_ know!" Onewa hissed, holding up his claw clubs in defense, eyeing the spiders anxiously.

"Vakama, what do we do?" Nokama glanced worriedly to their leader. Unlike the other Hordika, Nokama still held a bit of faith in Vakama's skills, although as time passed, she was beginning to doubt his own sanity.

The red Hordika did not respond instantly. Instead, his eyes wandered between the approaching Keelerak and his own teammates. He knew that his team's welfare came first, but the beast inside of him was crying out for battle. It was nearly impossible to drown out the voice, echoing _fight! Fight! Fight!_ in his mind. Vakama shook his head, trying desperately to drown out the voice, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something.

"There!" he pointed towards a near-by building. It looked to be far more structurally sound than most other buildings they had encountered, although it was far from perfect. "It looks like a test lab... maybe there's something there that we can use to escape!"

"Any ideas on how to _get_ there?" Nuju asked, taking note of the several Visorak stood between them and the aforementioned building.

Onewa crouched down on his legs and aimed his Rhotuka. "I'll take care of it..." he replied, releasing his rhotuka spinner.

Although the spinner hit very few Visorak, it was enough of a distraction to give the Hordika a fighting chance. With a mighty cry, Onewa, closely followed by Vakama, charged forth and began to clear a path away from the Visorak, covering for Nokama, Whenua, Nuju, Matau and the rahaga to reach the shelter.

Upon closer inspection, the building was far more decayed and uncstructually sound as they had once thought, looking like it would collapse at any given moment. But at the time, they were more concerned with finding any sort of shelter to even care. Nuju ushered everyone into an open hole in the wall, while Nokama helped Whenua carry Matau, and Iruini continued to talk to the wounded ex-Toa.

Once they had gotten inside, Onewa and Vakama turned to run towards the building, until a Visorak launched itself at Vakama and pinned him down. Onewa would've kept running despite this, his mind too concerned with survival to worry about his leader, but another Visorak managed to grab him as well.

_Blast!_ thought Nuju as he watched the two Hordika fall. He reached for his Hordika Teeth and charged forward, joined by Whenua had left Matau to be tended to by Nokama, Iruini and Gaaki.

The Black ex-Toa fired his rhotuka, intending to free his comrades, but before he could even launch it, Bomonga suddenly appeared and whacked him on the hand with his staff. "Stop! You hit others, too." the rahaga pointed out.

Nuju soon became aware of Kualus's prescence as he began to climb on his back. "What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed.

"Trying to keep you two alive. Incoming!"

Nuju moved just in time to dodge and on-coming spinner, retaliating by launching his own. Kualus clicked in approval. "Excellent. Now, look out on to your left!"

_Wonderful, a back-seat fighter._ Nuju thought angrily as he complied with the rahaga's instructions. From the corner of his eye, he could see Bomonga giving out similiar tips to Whenua, although they were mostly quick one-word warnings.

Meanwhile, Nokama observed Matau wounds with concern. The green Hordika was in obvious pain, wincing with every breath he took. _His lungs might've been pierced..._ she thought, worriedly.

Gaaki observed them from afar, her eyes darting between them and the battle raging outside. "How is he?" she asked, although she had a pretty good idea of the answer.

"Bad." was Iruini's simple reply. "He's lost a lot of blood... at least he's managed to stay concious." he frowned as Matau took another agonized gasp. "I don't know how much longer that's going to last, though."

Gaaki remained silent.

A sudden cry turned her attention away from the injured and out to the fight, where Whenua had suddenly been overpowered by several Visorak. Her eyes widened, concerned for both the black Hordika and Bomonga. She took a step forward. "No-!"

Norik and Pouks both stood in front of her, preventing her from moving. "There's nothing you can do." he told her. "Don't..."

Gaaki frowned and hung her head, but obediently stepped back closer to Nokama.

The battle was looking hopeless. Nuju stood alone, against a thousand or more Visorak, fending them off one by one. Eventually, fatigue began to take its toll, and his blows became slower and weaker by the moment. His fellow comrads had already fallen into the Visorak one by one, he couldn't even see them anymore. Were they dead? He didn't know. It was hard to tell, especially with an extra weight on his back-

"Look out!"

The warning had come too late.

Nuju shouted in surprise as several Visorak launched their spinners simoultanously. He held up his weapons as a reflex as he attempted to dive out of the way. One of them greased his side, its acid just scratching his thigh. It was enough of a surprise to knock him off guard just for a moment, which was all the spiders needed. They piled onto him, snapping the pincers angrily at the fallen ex-Toa. However, his attention was else where, as he watched the other spinners fly through the air and towards another target.

Norik's eyes widened with fear as the acid spinners collided with the walls of the abandoned building and continued to burn through, eventually hitting several support pillars. The ceiling soon followed.

Nokama jerked her head up as debris began to fall close to her, threatening to crush her. She grabbed Matau who was still too weak to move and searched desperately for an exit. Iruini and Gaaki were huddled close to them, squinting through the dust and rubble to find an escape.

Norik and Pouks, who were already standing close to an opening, called to their companions. "Nokama! Gaaki! Iruini! Over here!" they yelled, trying to grab their attention.

Nokama followed the sounds of their voices and made her way to them, narrowly avoiding a rock. As more and more debris fell, her panic began to rise. It was now simply a question of whether or not she would be crushed from the falling rocks, and it was only matter of seconds before the entire building would collapse. She had to get out of here, fast!

Matau took a weak breath. "N... Nokama... I..."

The blue Hordika shushed him. "Save your strength!" she told him.

"If we don't... make it... out of here..." Matau coughed. "I always... l..." suddenly his eyes widened with fear.

"Look out!"

With all the strength he could muster, Matau shoved Nokama to the ground as the building finally gave way completely. The walls caved in, and soon, Nokama, Matau, Gaaki and Iruini were lost.

Meanwhile, the other four brave Toa Hordika and two rahaga had fallen unconcious, unaware of the events that had taken place. And Norik and Pouks, the only two remaining rahaga, could only watch in horror as four of their closest friends... died.

Norik hung his head in defeat, not even paying attention to the Visorak who had grabbed them. "No... it's over."

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Planning and Pain

Author's Note: Well, not a whole lot to say here, except that Roodaka is a lot of fun to write. No, seriously, she is.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bionicle, and I bet if I did, it'd be a whole lot lamer, so be thankful I didn't.

_Chapter 2_

Roodaka, Viceroy and future queen of the Visorak, stood at the edge of the colliseum which overlooked the broken city of Ta-Metru. She had long ago sent out the Keelerak horde to attack the Toa Hordika, whom she had discovered were traveling within Le-Metru, in accordance with Sidorak's orders. Of course, unknownest to him, Roodaka had given them the extra order of retrieving the Hordika _alive,_ whereas the Visorak king had simply stated their capture, dead or else.

She knew that there was very little chance of defeat for her side. Practically every single Visorak in the area had swarmed the Toa, and each one was driven to complete their mission under the strict penalty of Roodaka's wrath, a fate worse than death itself as everyone knew. She had also sought to strike the Toa during their weakest moment. Through careful planning and observation, Roodaka had managed to get an idea of their movement, what time of day they were most active, and when they would usually retire to sleep. Attacking exactly at nightfall had been a clever move, as the Hordika had also just recently avoided a large battle in Ta-Metru, and were already growing tired. They stood little chance in defeating every single Keelerak and Le-Metru, she knew.

There was always a chance for error, of course. One Toa could possibly slip through the chaos and escape unnoticed, or one of them would be killed accidentilly. Although it was highly unlikely for this to happen, it was still a possibility. Still, Roodaka mused, as long as it was not the red Hordika, she supposed she could let one die or slip through her grasps, but not the red one. No, he was too special to lose. A sadistic smile made its way to her lips. Oh yes, she had many plans for the ex-Toa of Fire...

Her musings were interrupted as a Boggarak approached her cautiously, obviously with news to deliver. Roodaka acknowedged the spider without even casting a glance at it. "Report."

The Visorak relayed its information through a series of humming noises, the only verbal communication a Visorak could create. Roodaka remained quiet and listened intently.

_'Four Hordika and four Rahaga captured. Two Hordika and two rahaga were killed during battle, as well as half the Le-Metru Keelerak horde.'_

When the Viceroy made no immediate reply, the Boggarak began to grow anxious. It couldn't tell if it's mistress was angry, calm, or in deep thought. Whatever she was thinking, it figured, it was probably bad news for the Boggarak itself.

"Did you find the bodies?" its thoughts were broken by her statement.

The Boggarak struggled to reply. _'There was cave in, and it was believed that the four Hordika and rahaga were buried alive...'_

"But did you find their bodies?" Roodaka repeated, slowly turning to face the frightened Visorak. "One must never assume another is dead until they find a corpse. Until then, there is no way to completely confirm that they are still alive or not." her tone was cold and serious, with a deadly edge to it.

The Boggarak scrambled to respond. _'Of... of course, my queen. We will search the rubble for their remains.'_ it said with a bow.

"See that you do." Roodaka's voice was considerably calmer than moments before, although there was still a hint of annoyance in her tone. She turned away from the ledge and began to make her way to the throne room.

"In the meanwhile," she began, knowing that the Boggarak was following. "Put the Hordika and Rahaga in the cell, and make sure there an no visitors. I will inform our king of our capture." her eyes narrowed at the mention of Sidorak. Fool of a leader, that man. Sometimes she wondered how he ever managed to become ruler of the Visorak, or the ruler of anything, for that matter.

The Boggarak bowed and disappeared into the darkness of the collesieum to fulfill her orders.

Sidorak was not happy. Not happy at all. He clutched the sides of his throne, twitching every now and then, as he listened to his scout's report of the battle. Sure, the fact that they had captured all but two of the Toa Hordika was good news, but he had lost _**half of his horde**_in the process. In his mind, the ends almost certainly didn't justify the means.

_Blast!_ He growled, as he sent the quivering scout away with a flick of his wrist. _Those Hordika are more trouble than their worth... I knew I should've kill them right as I captured them, instead of letting the venom take care of it. I should've known. Killing someone by dropping them off from a high altitude is a terrible idea, they always find a way to survive..._

"My King, Sidorak..."

The irate ruler whirled around to face the speaker with intent to angrily shoo them away when he discovered that the person was none other than his bride-to-be, Roodaka. Immediately he lost all traces of anger and straightend himself. "What is- ah, Viceroy Roodaka. What brings you hear?"

The woman smiled cooly as she watched his transformation. "I see you've heard the news..."

"About the Hordika? Yes, I have." Sidorak frowned, his eyes narrowing. "This time, I'm not going to wait for any 'legendary ceremony' to kill them. I'm going to do it myself, and make sure the job is done."

"Ah, but that is what I've come here to talk about." Roodaka said. "You see, I think we should keep them alive..."

"Alive? Nonsense! They've killed off half of my horde. _Half._ They're obviously far too dangerous to be kept alive!" Sidorak argued.

The scheming viceroy nodded her head, knowing exactly what to do. "On the contrary, my king, that is all the reason to keep them _alive._" she savored the quizzical look the Visorak Overlord shot her. "What I mean, my lord, is that perhaps, with a little persuasion, is that we can turn these Hordika into our allies. Valuable allies."

Sidorak raised a weary invisible eyebrow. "Are you sure? They seem rather... determined, for their mission." he said, unsure of his own description.

Roodaka merely nodded her head. "Excellent qualities in a ruthless warrior, for sure. I'm certain with some... time, with them, I can convince them over to our side."

From the look on his face, it was obvious that Sidorak was still wary and unsure. "Think of it as an early wedding gift," she quickly added. "If I cannot convince them to switch sides... then you may be free to kill them, however way you wish."

Sidorak pondered this proposition for a moment, before leaning back against his ebony throne and nodding his head. "Very well, Roodaka. You may have your go at them." he said, cupping his hands together.

Roodaka bowed gracefully. "A wise and most excellent decision, my lord." she said, while smiling evilly. _Fool. He has no idea..._ she thought.

It was hot, and dark. The air was thin, making it hard for her to breathe. Her entire body ached horribly, especially her back. She could hardly move any of her limbs. There was also something warm and soft next to her, something below her. And it was wet, too.

Was she dead? She couldn't tell. She always imagined death to be brighter, freed from all feeling and pain, or trapped with a desolete waste-land with fire and unbearable pain. She never thought it would be this... dark.

She couldn't remember what had happened the past few minutes. Her mind was a blank, refusing to work properly. It must be the lack of air. The lack of oxygen was hurting her brain. How much longer did she have...?

All of a sudden, she felt the pressure against her arm disappear, almost as if something had been pushed off of it. The same thing happened with her shoulder, and finally her back. She felt air return to her lungs, sweet air.

That's right! She had been tending to Matau, who was gravely injured, when the building they were in collapsed. There was a scream, rocks, and suddenly something heavy had fallen down on her, and she lost conciousness.

Summoning all her strength, Nokama pushed all the debris and rocks that covered her and sat up, shaking the dust off of her body. She realized that the soft, warm wet thing she had felt beneathe her was actually Matau, whom she must have been shielding when they were crushed.

Suddenly remembering his condition, she looked at him worriedly, wondering if his lungs were crushed or he had finally bled to death during the cave in.

Although his abdomen continued to bleed, he was still breathing, and even managed to sit up, with a little help from Nokama.

She felt a hand come onto her shoulder, and realized that it was Gaaki. "Are you alright?" the little rahaga asked.

"I'm... fine." Nokama replied with a cough, watching as Iruini assisted Matau with his injury. The Blue Hordika struggled to stand up, her legs wobbling underneath her weight. She leaned on a nearby fallen pillar for support. "Wh... where are the others...?" she asked, her vision obscured by the total darkness that seemed to surround them.

"Gone. Taken by the Visorak." Gaaki replied solemnly.

"And so will we be if don't get out of here." Iruini added, before stopping and sniffing the air. "There are some Keelerak still hanging around here... we need to move. Now."

Nokama felt anger flare up inside of her. "But what about our friends?!" she growled, ignoring Gaaki's pleads for her silence. "Shouldn't we try to help them!?"

Gaaki glared at her, and shook her head. "In our condition, we will only achieve failure, maybe even death. No, we must run now, if we are to ever save the others."

Nokama opened her mouth to respond, when her eyes fell on Matau, who was being supported by Iruini. In his condition, there would be no way they could ever hope t face the Visorak again, and if she just left him, chances are he would die.

_**But why would you care?**_ the beast side of her questioned. _**He's a bother... all he ever does is mope, and flirt with you... and it was his fault that he was hurt so badly. He's a weak fighter, you don't need him!**_

_No! I will not abandon him._ Nokama shook her head, trying to drown out the Hordika.

Gaaki continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer. Nokama cast a glare at her. "Fine!" she growled, before taking off ahead. "We'll think of a plan later...!"

Iruini frowned, and struggled to catch up with her, while maintaining an easy pace for Matau, who looked at her worriedly.

"Nokama..." the green Hordika coughed, as grey and blue spots danced around his eyes. He leaned against some debris for more support, the small Rahaga unable to provide enough.

"What is it?" the female asked, not even looking at him.

Matau swallowed. "I... I don't... feel... fine... gooooood..." with that, he collapsed and slipped into darkness.

Nokama's eyes widened with fear. "Matau? No!"

Onewa was reminded of something that happened a long time ago, when he was a Toa Metru. Then again, everything before his mutation felt like it had happened ages ago, but this was beside the point. He had been recently turned into a Toa, and had just been captured by the False Dume and thrown into prison alongside Whenua and Nuju. At this point in time, Onewa had grown to hate his companions and attempted to escape the instant he was thrown in the cell. He could remember the fear and desperation he felt as he strained against the prison bars, in a futile attempt to rip them apart. He could also remember the annoyance, anger and impatience he felt with his so-called teammates, specifically Whenua's ranting, and Nuju's endless whining about how their future was bleak and that they were doomed. Not to mention the Turaga Lhikan who was also thrown in jail who had forced Onewa to do stupid and completely pointless exercises to supposedly help activate his mask-power. It was an expierence he had hoped never to go through ever again in his life.

In a way, Onewa was feeling the exact same way he had felt before now, only this time it was much, much worse. Pure rage thundered through his veins, and his injuries from the previous battle had yet to be treated. And now he was trapped with people he had grown to utterly despise.

And now, he was moping in a corner after just fighting with the one who he despised above all, Vakama.

When the Visorak had tossed them all into the cell, Onewa had been the only one was attempting to do something to find a way to escape, like always. He ran up to the bars, and attempted to find a weakness in them. Whenua and Nuju were sulking in the corners of the cell, acting like spoiled little children who hadn't gotten their way, as usual. He was able to keep his anger in check for the moment, but that was before Fire-Spitter began to speak.

Vakama had stood up and had the audacity to tell Onewa to calm down and conserve his energy. "For what?" he had asked. "Begging for mercy? Or wellowing in self-pity? Forget it! Unlike SOME people, I'm actually trying to do something useful, instead of crying a river over my mistakes!"

That had touched a nerve, he knew. The red Hordika's eyes flashed, as he voice became low and hoarse. "What. Did you. Say." it wasn't a question, but a command.

Onewa scoffed, unintimidated. "You know what I mean, fire-spitter!" he growled. "It's just like you! You've failed us yet again, so now you're going to just stand around and start yappin' and cryin' over how you've failed Lhikan and everything! Let me tell you something, fire-spitter: you've NEVER done anything right! I don't understand why Nokama ever thought you could even hope to be a leader. You can't do anything right!" he took a step forward, enjoying seeing Vakama's eye twitch angrily.

He continued, "whenever there was a problem, whenever there was trouble, it was always one of us who fixed it! It was either my plans, Nuju's foresight, Whenua's observations, Nokama's knowledge, or even, Mata Nui forbid, _Matau's recklessness_, that got us OUT of it! All you ever did was bark useless orders, and when you actually ever attempted to do anything on your own, you FAILED! Utterly, completely, absolutely FAILED! Do you hear me, Vakama?"

Onewa gritted his teeth and walked right up to the red Hordika's face, ignoring the startled and angry cries of Rahaga. "You aren't qualified to be a leader, for anything! I never saw you as my leader, and I never will! Because You. Will. Never. Do. Anything. _**Right!**_"

With a blood-curdling war, Vakama pounced and attacked, with Onewa gladly engaging in a deadly brawl.

The brown Hordika couldn't remember everything that happened during their fight. His mind had been clouded with blind rage, his beast obviously had been in complete control the entire time. He could only remember small flashes of clawing and biting... and blood. He remembered feeling blood on his hands and tasting blood, from blows he dealt to fire-spitter and blows he recieved.

He didn't know how long they had fought, but he remembered when they stopped. Norik and Pouks had leaped into the fray and cut their battle short. And while Norik was trying to restrain Vakama, he lashed out at the small Rahaga and actually slashed him with his claw.

Eventually, after a lot of yelling, clawing, and argueing, the two small rahi had managed to calm them both down, although Norik was still badly hurt and bleeding.

Under the ever watchful and wary eye of Pouks, Onewa shot a glare to Vakama from across the room. The red Hordika replied to his glower with a snort, while staring at the wound he had caused Norik, who, despite Kualus's advice, continue to watch and guard Vakama even with his injury.

Onewa scoffed at his so-called leader before curling up in a ball to go to sleep. He had no desire to look at his "teammates", and he was getting tired of their nastly looks. He was only glad Nokama wasn't here, she would probably be giving him a lecture.

Nokama...

Onewa frowned slightly at the thought of his fallen comrads. He didn't really care about Matau, the guy had always been a pain. In a way his probably kind of happy the reckless ex-Toa of Air was dead (although deep down, he knew just the opposite was true). But Nokama... well, she was different.

There was no denying that the ex-Toa of Water was pretty. Heck, she was down right beautiful. Even as a hideous Hordika, Nokama was probably the best looking one among the group. But it wasn't just her looks that made Onewa like her. She was kind, caring, and smart. Sure, she was a little sappy and sentimental at times, but when she actually did fight, she was a deadly opponent. So coordinated, so balanced, she would never miss a move. Onewa liked that in a girl.

It also didn't help that his rahi side had a natural, powerful instinct to want to mate with a female of his species. And as far as he knew, Nokama was the only other female Toa Hordika on the island. Of course, Onewa was able to surpress his purely primal urge for her, but that wasn't to say it was easy to surpress his own infatuation.

The very thought of her dying was a terrifying one. He had already once thought to have lost, when she was poisoned by the Rahi Nui. He never wanted to go through that expierence ever again.

Of course, there was also a chance that she could still be alive. All he knew was that the building they were in had collapsed and she wasn't seen leaving it, according to Norik's story. He didn't know for sure that Nokama had perished in the cave-in. She might've even been planning a rescue mission as they were waiting. Matau, on the other hand...

Well, if the cave-in didn't kill him, which would be a miracle in of itself, blood-loss would've.

Onewa snorted. He shouldn't be worrying about Nokama. If she was alive, she was probably in some place better than in a prison. And if she was dead, well, there had been plenty of times he had wished he was dead during this adventure. It was probably a relief.

With those (somewhat) comforting thoughts in mind, Onewa closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, and dreamt pleasent dreams of killing Visorak hordes and brutally murdering Vakama.

Slowly, Matau's eyes opened. The green ex-Toa took a slow, deep breaths, as he tried to get good look at his surroundings. There was an absolutely disgusting smell in the air, like rancid pork that made it hard for him to breathe. His vision was blurry from sleeping, and it took a few seconds for it focus. When he could see clearly once again, he found that he was staring straight up at a small structure that might have been a fallen support chute. He couldn't quite tell.

Matau became aware of a nearby prescence. He cocked his head to his left, a move he wished he hadn't done, as he neck throbbed painfully all of a sudden. The crippled Hordika shut his eyes cringed in pain. A hand was placed on his neck, as if to soothe it.

"Easy, easy there." Iruini's voice spoke.

Matau opened his eyes and looked up at him. "Iruini... what... happened...?" he choked. Darn, was his body really in that bad of shape?

Iruini sighed, as if relunctant to recount the tale. "You passed out on us due to lack of blood. We carried your body as quickly as we could out of that area of the city and looked for bandages to slow the bleeding. We were able to make some out of some plants we found and patched you up as best we could." It was then that Matau became aware of the rather itchy plant bandages to was currently wrapped around his stomach and shoulders.

Iruini continued, "We found a temporary shelter somewhere on the outskirts of the city and made up a small camp. Right now, Gaaki is searching for some herbs to help improve your condition."

The little Rahaga paused, allowing Matau to take in all the information. After a while, he chuckled. "You know, you're very lucky." he said. "Most other people I know would've been dead at this point... you're a pretty tough Toa to still even be _concious_ right now."

"I... am?" the compliment was odd, especially coming from Iruini's mouth. However, he didn't have the strength to question it right there, so he decided to let is slide and just take it happily.

"Where's Nokama?" Matau asked.

"I... I'm here." a feminine voice spoke up. _Nokama?_

The blue Toa Hordika walked towards his bedside and knelt down, staring intently at his wounds. Iruini had retreated to the side to give her some space and privacy.

Matau smiled up at her. "Nokama..." he paused. She didn't look so good, he thought. Her eyes were bloodshot, her expression apprehensive, and she kept looking at his wounds, her eyes refusing to meet his. _Did something happen?_ he wondered.

He happened to catch a glance at her claws. His eyes widened. They were completely covered in blood, and not his blood.

Nokama must've realized what he was staring at, as she pulled her hands away behind her back. Now she couldn't even look at his body, shame filling her mind. Before he could even ask her what was going on, she stood up and walked away, revealing the rest of the campsight.

Matau's eyes became glued to the sight before him. There was a small camp-fire going, just enough to provide some warmth for those around it. The suns were slowly rising through the clouds, indicating it was almost day time, although one could hardly see any signs of daylight through the cloud covered sky. But it was none of these that held his attention.

In front of the camp-fire was a dismembered rahi.

An ash-bear, to be exact. At least, he thought it was. The head had been torn off the body and was now lying in a poodle of blood. Scratches and bite-marks littered the face to make it almost entirely unrecongizable. Little else of its body had survived, other than what appeared to be a hand, a leg, and perhaps apart of its upper torso. Although he couldn't completely confirm it from so far away, the blood appeared to be still wet, indicating that it had only been killed a little while ago. But why would someone attack an ash-bear so viciously beyond recongition...?

Matau looked to Nokama, expecting an answer. When she gave no reply, he asked, "what happened to the rahi-beast?"

She visibly stiffened and shut her eyes, as if the question itself had stung her. She remained that way for a few moments before trying to reply. "I... it..." her eyes darted between the corpse and Matau. Finally, she shook her head and snarled. "It was in my way." with that, she walked away.

It didn't take a genius, or Matau, to figure out what had happened. _I knew she was mad-angry about losing, but this..._ he closed his eyes.

He remembered not too long ago, just before they had all been turned into Hordika, the Toa Metru had come across an injured ash-bear. At the time, the Toa were more concerned with saving the Matoran from the colliseum, and were in no mood to bother with a weakened rahi. But Nokama had refused to go on until they did something to help the little ash bear, eventually leading them all to attempt a healing process that no-one knew they could do. Nokama always had a special bond with all living things, especially animals. But now, as a half-beast herself, she had taken to killing something she had once sought to protect.

It made him realize how truly awful the mutation was. Slowly but surely, the Toa were losing their minds. How long would it take before they were all brainless rahi with only an instinct to fight? They would fail the mission, doom all the Matoran, and most of all, they would lose themselves.

_If only fire-spitter had been smarter...!_ Matau thought angrily. _If only we hadn't walked-strolled into this trap! If only... we had some food, I'm getting hungry-starved._ he laid his head back against the ground and closed his eyes, his once angered mind now clouded with thoughts of meals.

He glanced at Iruini, who had stepped out of the shadows. "I... don't suppose you don't have any food?" he asked, weakly.

Iruini chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Matau, but until we find some way to treat your injury," he pointed to his bandaged stomach, "your going to have to starve for a while."

Matau groaned inwardly and closed his eyes. This was going to be a miserable time.

Nuju was awoken from his semi-peaceful slumber by an irritating noise. It only took him a few seconds to realize that said irritating noise was none other than Kualus.

After about an hour of death-staring contests between Vakama and Onewa, the two had decided to play a game of 'let's mark our territory'. There was now an invisible line that seperated each Toa Hordika, and if one were to cross the boundaries, that Hordika had a right to smash, claw, punch, bite, jab and a host of other unpleasent things to the offender until he retreated back to his own spot. The only other living beings allowed in each Hordika's territory was their respective Rahaga.

Nuju had long since fallen asleep, while condemning the idiocy of his so-called brothers. However, it appeared that his "roommate", so to speak, was not going to let him rest any longer.

The white Hordika glared at the small rahi. "What are you doing?" he growled.

Kualus hardly even acknowledged him. The small creature was looking up at the wall and making a series of strange clicks and buzzes with his mouth. Nuju had seen him do this before, it was the language of flying rahi. Kualus had spoke it many times during his travels. But when he did, he at least did it with other flying beasts.

Nuju wondered for a moment if the Rahaga had gone insane. It certainly seemed plausible. Kualus always _did_ come off as a little mentally unstable to him...

"Kualus, who are you talking to?" Nuju was starting to get annoyed. The incesscant noises the Rahaga was making was driving him nuts.

Once again, Kualus made no reply. This time, Nuju stood up and walked up to his ear. "Kualus-"

"Ah! Nuju!" the rahaga whirled around, as if he was unaware of his prescence the entire time. "Having trouble sleeping, I see?"

"Only because of you." he snapped. "I called you at least three times. Has your hearing gone?"

"Really? I'm sorry about that..." Kualus apologized. "I was talking to my little flying rahi friends, asking them if there was a way out, but there appears to be none."

Nuju glanced up at the wall that he had been facing and eyed it quizzically. At first he thought there was no-one there, but upon activation of his mechanical eye-piece, he discovered that there were a couple of small ice-bats hanging up in the ceiling.

The ex-Toa of Ice was silent for a while before replying. "So... these things... they talk to you?" he asked.

Kualus nodded his head. "Of course. I speak their language, why wouldn't they talk to me?"

_Because they're rahi,_ he was tempted to say, but instead kept this thought to himself. "I don't suppose you could ask them to fly out of here and find some help, could you?" he inquired.

Kualus nodded again. "Of course I could." He turned to the ice-bats and made a series of clicking noises. Nuju watched with interest. After a while, the bats responded with a low buzzing noise, causing the Rahaga to frown.

"What's wrong?" Nuju asked.

"It's too dangerous for them to leave." Kualus explained, sadly. "They say if that they dare to leave the cell, the Visorak will capture them an devour them."

Anger flared up inside of him. "Then what are we supposed to do!?" the white Hordika growled.

Before he could get an answer, the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the chamber. It was not the quiet, quick and frequent noise of the Visorak's legs against the hard-stone. No, it was a deeper, louder sound, that came at a much slower pace, the sound that came from a two-legged creature.

The noise became louder and louder as the unknown footsteps came closer, waking up the other Hordika. Vakama, who was closest to the cell door, crouched down into a pouncing stance, ready for anything. The Visorak had taken away their weapons and rhotuka, leaving their claws and brute strength as their only weapon. But for Toa Hordika, this was all they needed.

The room became tense, as a shadowed figure strolled up to the cell. Everyone prepared for a fight, as the cell door slowly slid open...

Norik's eyes widened with anger and fear.

"Roodaka..."

_To be continued..._


	3. Danger and Discovery

A/N: GYAAGH! I am so, so, SO sorry for taking such a long time to update... the blasted monster known only as "Writer's Block" got to me. And this chapter was giving me a little trouble... Sigh Oh, and just a little warning, there's some MatauxNokama in this chappie. Because I love it so.

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own Bionicle. Never will.

_Chapter 3_

Norik's eyes narrowed as he stared at the malicious Viceroy standing before him. "Roodaka." although it was a little more than a whisper, he spoke with utter hatred and venom, a very uncharacteristic emotion coming from him.

The evil woman simply smirked at his reaction, undeterred. "It's been a while... hasn't it, old man?" she said, greatly enjoying his anger.

The tense moment was cut short as Vakama, eyes blazing, charged forth and pounced towards Roodaka. After a single moment's hesitation, Nuju, Whenua and Onewa followed suit, believing that with their combined efforts they could possibly take the woman and escape. Unfortunately, they were bound to be disappointed.

Before Vakama's claws could even reach her skin, Roodaka side-stepped out of the way and grabbed his deformed left arm, twisted it painfully around his back and slammed his body against the wall. She removed a small, sharp dagger she had concealed within her arm plates and lightly pressed it up against the red Hordika's neck threateningly.

The other three Hordika froze in their tracks, surprised by her quick movements. They never even had a chance to think of some way to rescue their leader (or just attack her themselves, it was difficult to tell) as several Visorak crept up behind Roodaka, prepared to leap into action to protect their soon-to-be queen.

Vakama struggled against the weight that was being pressed against him, trying desperately to wriggle his arm free. He became aware of warm air breathing down his neck as the woman brought her face close to his.

"I suggest you calm down," she said. "Unless you want to get hurt..." she brought the knife closer to his face.

Although he had only caught a whiff of the blade, he could recognize the scent of it. Or rather, the scents. That dagger had tasted blood before, blood of Toa, blood of rahi, even blood of Visorak.

Once she felt the large half-beast calm down, she relaxed her grip on him and slowly eased off.

"You're quick for your size... that's very good." she commented truthfully. Vakama simply growled in response. She took no notice.

Roodaka looked around the cell with a thoughtful expression on her face. The Hordika narrowed their eyes and made a move to attack, but Norik held his hand up, commanding them to stop. Reluctantly, they stepped back, but they never took their gaze off of her. Finally, after she was done inspecting the room, she smiled.

"My my, this is such a small, cramped little cell... isn't it?" she said. "Hardly big enough for four large Hordika and four half rahkshi... don't you agree?" she glanced at her Visorak bodyguards, who nodded their heads in agreement.

Everyone exchanged questionable glances with each other, unsure of what this woman was planning. But if Norik's reaction to her arrival, and if his stories about her were true, it was doubtful that whatever she was thinking it wasn't good for them.

Roodaka's amused smile disappeared as she straightened her back. "Put each Hordika in individual cells, but leave the Rahaga. King Sidorak has a score to settle with them..."

Onewa nearly burst out laughing. What was this lady thinking? _I can probably escape while they take us to our new jail cells, he thought, as an Oohnorak approached him._ However, instead of binding him with its silk thread and carrying him away they had before when they were captured, the Visorak fired its spinner. Suddenly, Onewa could no longer feel his limbs, his entire body going numb. _They can do that!?_ He knew that Visorak's spinners had varied effects depending on which type of Visorak, but he had never bothered to inquire further on what each specific rhotuka spinner could do. Soon, he lost all trail of thought as the Oohnorak smashed its leg into his skull, knocking him out, but not before he saw the others experience similar fates before drifting into unconsciousness...

Matau winced as he felt the damp cloth come in contact with his shoulder wound. Its coldness felt like a sharp dagger against his skin, especially against his already slashed scar.

"You need to stop moving!" Gaaki scolded, as she continued to wipe the blood off of the injury. "You don't want to open up that wound again or let it get infected, do you?"

"Couldn't you have picked-chosen something warmer?" the ex-Toa of Air complained.

"No! Now stop squirming! You're just like Iruini, you know that?"

Iruini observed the amusing scene from the other side of the camp, stroking the small campfire with a stick carefully. Gaaki had returned from gathering supplies a little while ago and had taken to caring for Matau's injuries. Usually, Bomonga would be the one looking after the wounded, as he had been the team's unofficial medic, with vast knowledge of healing techniques and abilities. However, with the former Toa Hagah of Earth gone, the responsibility of doctoring had fallen onto the female Rahaga's shoulders, who had learned a few tricks from Bomonga himself. However, she was a far from perfect doctor yet, often too forceful or harsh when dealing with delicate situations. Iruini knew; he had often been her guinea pig.

The green Rahaga's eyes narrowed as his name was brought into the conversation. "It's not his fault," he defended. "You're too rough."

"I would think the Toa of Air would be able to deal with a little cold..." Gaaki muttered, just loud enough for Iruini to hear.

Matau frowned as the two continued to exchange insults and arguments. They were just like an old married couple, but he decided to keep that thought to himself. Bored, and tired from complaining about Gaaki's healing, his eyes wandered over to the spot where the ash bear remains had once laid. Iruini had taken the corpse and buried it, but the blood remained on the ground, although it had mostly dried and been absorbed by the dirt, there were still faint traces of it. Seeing the blood made him think of Nokama, and with it, came concern.

His water sister had been missing for quite some time now. She had obviously been really shaken by the killing of the animal, and he didn't blame her. Although he couldn't quite understand completely what she felt exactly in her connection with the living creatures of the world, he knew she was very emotionally attached to something, and he respected that, although he didn't envy her.

He wondered what she was doing right now. Was she throwing another fit? Was she just standing around, thinking? Was she crying? What about her brothers? Was she thinking of ways to rescue their Toa brothers? He frowned at the thought. He was fairly certain she wouldn't try to rescue the others without help... although, then again, he never knew. Especially with Vakama captured... a familiar twinge of jealousy stabbed him as he thought of the red Toa. He didn't know quite what it was between them, but he tried to tell himself there was nothing going on, just strong friendship. But there was apart of him, the jealous part, that often cried and argued that there seemed to be _more_ than just strong friendship. She would always defend him against everything, almost always supported him in his judgments, and always spent all her time around him...

He shook his head. He really shouldn't be worrying about that, it only made him feel worse and lonely. Still, he couldn't stop thinking about Nokama...

Iruini watched Matau carefully, following his gaze. "You're worried about her, aren't you?" he said.

He didn't even glance up at him. "She's been gone for a long time-while..."

"Don't worry about her." Gaaki assured him. "She just needs some time to think. She'll be back soon..." she frowned as she stared at Matau's stomach wound. The bleeding had slowed considerably, but the bandages they had used to cover it up were so stained that they were completely red.

"You should be more worried about yourself..." she muttered, as she began to clean around his chest. _It doesn't look like it's gonna heal easily on its own... I'm going to have to stitch it back together... darn, I really do miss Bomonga..._ she thought, shaking her head.

Nokama walked along the damaged city, paying no particular attention to her surroundings or even where she was going. She was confident in her tracking abilities as a Toa Hordika to find the other's scents to lead her back to the camp, but right now she didn't feel ready to face them. She was still trying to come to terms with what she had done.

Out of everyone infected by the transformation, Nokama had been the least bothered by it. In fact, she had actually welcomed it. Being half rahi had allowed her to get in touch with nature and the animals far more than she ever could elsewhere, and the physical strength that accompanied it made her feel invincible. She was even hesitant to return to normal.

Now, she realized how stupid and narrow-minded she had been. She had only been thinking of the goodness of being a Hordika, completely overlooking the other, more dangerous aspects of being one. And that had caused her to kill an innocent ash bear.

But it wasn't just the death of the rahi that disturbed her. It was what she had done that disturbed. She had lost her temper, lost her control, and killed something. What if instead of the ash bear, she had killed Iruini, or Gaaki, or Matau? She was fully capable of doing so. The ex-Toa of Air was injured, and Gaaki and Iruini were hardly fighters. She could've killed them all very easily. And all because she got mad...

As Nokama continued along, she discovered that the pathway was becoming harder and harder to see. Darkness was slowly creeping among the city, and the suns were hardly visible in the sky. It wouldn't be long for night to come.

_Have I really been gone for that long?_ She wondered. _The others must be worried about me... I should find them..._

She sniffed the ground, attempting to locate some sort of familiar scent. _Gaaki's been here..._ she thought, as she smelled a faint trace of the old blue Rahaga. Quickly, she followed the trail, hoping to find her way back to the campsite before nightfall.

However, she never noticed a small Visorak follow her.

Roodaka stood above a platform that overlooked four jail-cells which housed the Toa Hordika. Each cell was isolated from each other, making sure that no communication could be made between them. Each Hordika was unaware of the other's presence, or even exactly where they were in the coliseum. This was a test to see how each reacted when completely alone, without any voice of reason or other being to control or provoke their actions.

Roodaka was experimenting with them, to see what made them tick, what made them angry, what their mental weaknesses were, etc. In the beginning, she had put them all in one giant cell to see how they acted together. As assumed, they were very violent with each other, particularly the brown and red ones. She then waited a while for these feelings of animosity towards each other grew, and then separated them from each other completely.

Now, each Hordika was reacting to their new surroundings in a unique, interesting way. The brown one, Onewa, had taken to repeated slamming against the walls of his cell in a futile effort to break out. This resulted in several injuries for the Hordika, including bruises, scrapes, and even dislocation, but he always ignored the pain. Without anyone to calm him down or beat some sense in to him, he would continue to ram the walls without stopping, too stubborn to give in even if it killed him.

The red one, Vakama, was reacting violently as well, although he was wise enough to calm himself down when he started to hurt himself. When this would happen, he would sink into depression and mope around, muttering things that were too low for Roodaka to hear. Of course, it wouldn't be long before he would start pounding away at his cell in anger, until that bored him.

The white Hordika, Nuju, hadn't acted as ferociously as the other two had. In fact, he was mostly in control of his emotions, and just took to prowling around his cell and clawing crude drawings into the wall, most likely escape plans. Plans that she knew were doomed to fail.

And finally, the black one known as Whenua. He was the oddest specimen. When he first awoke in his cell, he had remained quiet and still. As time went by, he had begun to act more animal-like, walking on his fours, "marking" his territory by clawing at the walls, and curling up into a small ball to sleep. He would often talk to himself as well, but like Vakama, he spoke so low it was impossible to listen in.

Roodaka was confused and very interested in this behavior, so she spent much of her time observing him. It was rather boring, however, since there wasn't much to see. Just a large monster, sitting alone in a cell, slowly going mad.

The viceroy smiled to herself as she watched Onewa tackle the cell-bars once again. A loud 'bang' followed after his head collided with stone, and the Hordika tumbled to the ground, wincing and crying out in agony. _A fool... determined, I'll give him that, but a fool none the less..._ she chuckled, as he rose shakily and resumed the beatings. _If he wasn't so short tempered, perhaps I could use him more... maybe I could work with it. But then again, I have Vakama for that..._

Ahh, yes. The Toa Hordika of Fire. She had great plans for that one. From her surveillance of him, she could tell he was a bold and capable leader, even worthy of leading the Visorak, more so than that idiot Sidorak. But then again, most seemed more contempt to be ruler than him. But none-the-less, Vakama was a very promising specimen. If she worked with him and used him just right, he would be an invaluable asset to completing her goal...

Her grin broadened. _Soon, my Makuta... soon..._ she thought evilly, her eyes glimmering within the darkness...

Matau glanced up as he picked up a familiar scent in the air. Painfully, he cocked his head towards his side and a rare smile crept onto his mutated face as a blue, hulking figure emerged from the darkness. "Nokama!" he greeted happily, relieved to see her okay.

Nokama allowed herself to grin slightly. "Hello, Matau." she said, happy to see him show _some_ emotion other than sorrow and guilt. In fact, he almost looked like his old self... minus the hideous body and battle damage. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." As if to mock him, Matau felt a spasm of pain shoot through his body as he accidentally moved his left shoulder a tad. He closed his eyes cringed, his right, uninjured hand instinctively reaching for his shoulder.

Nokama's smile faded and was replaced with a concerned frown. She moved in closer to inspect him, tenderly touching the side of his wound. She quickly removed it as she saw him wince upon her touch. "Sorry." she apologized.

"No need." the ex-Toa of Air told her. He stared at her for a moment, just gazing at her eyes. _Even as a monster, she's still... beautiful._

There was a moment of silence between them as they looked at each other. Nokama began to feel a little uncomfortable, maybe even a little... embarrassed, for some reason. She glanced away at the ground, trying to gather her thoughts.

"Umm... Matau..." she began, hoping to feel in the silence. "Where's Gaaki and Iruini?" she asked, as she realized the absence of the two Rahaga.

"They left-wandered a while ago, to find some food." Matau replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice. Nokama realized that he was annoyed because he would not be able to share in whatever meal they would bring back. She felt a twinge of sympathy for him, but knew she could do nothing. Feeding him would be dangerous for his health; otherwise she would've made sure he would get plenty of food.

_Poor Matau..._ she thought sadly. She hated seeing him like this, so miserable, so weak and helpless...

"Nokama, are you okay-fine? You were gone for a while-long..."

The question startled her. She blinked in confusion before answering. "I... yes. I'm fine, Matau. I just... needed some time to think." she explained. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"I'm glad-happy you're feeling better..." Matau admitted truthfully. He let out a depressed sigh, still somewhat disappointed at his own state.

For some reason, Nokama was beginning to feel really guilty and sorry for the green Hordika. She didn't know why exactly, she had seen Matau mope around a lot before and it never bothered her this much. Maybe it was because he was trying to put a small act, so as not to worry her, but it only made her feel even worse. _**He's probably just doing it to get your sympathy.**_ Her beast side growled. _No, I don't think he is... he's just... sad._ She argued with herself.

Maybe she should've spent more time alone.

Nokama did her best to shrug off the angry voice inside her head. Right now, she really didn't need its coaxing. "Matau, maybe you should try to get some rest..." she suggested. You've been up for most of the day, and Gaaki and Iruini aren't-"

She paused as a strange smell floated in the air. She sniffed, trying to identify it. Matau could look on in confusion as he watched, but he soon caught the scent and began sniffing as well.

Nokama's eyes widened as she realized what the scent was.

"Vi-"

She was cut off by the sudden movement of a rhotuka spinner. It was only with her quick reflexes and pure dumb luck that she was able to avoid being hit by it, which turned out to be a very good thing. The spinner instead hit a small rock, and instantly, an electrical sphere formed around it, trapping it inside.

_Suukorak!_ Nokama growled, recalling the name and power of the particular Visorak. Gaaki had long ago pounded all the information of the spiders into her head, and not for the first time in her like, she was thankful for his exquisite memory. Instinctively, she readied her Fin Barbs and entered a fighter's stance, prepared for any attack.

Unfortunately, she was not prepared to find the Visorak, mostly Keelerak, form a surrounding barrier around her.

Feeling a serious twinge of deja-vu, Nokama studied her odds. Although there were significantly less Visorak than there had been when they had completely swarmed them all in the beginning, there was still a fair amount, enough to give her trouble. Plus, she had two serious disadvantages: they had managed to get the drop on her first, allowing them to get into the best position to battle. And the other, of course, was Matau, who was basically crippled.

These were grim odds, no doubt. In fact, the chances of her or Matau coming out of this alive were very slim. However, she was not Nuju, and therefore did not care about the future odds. All she was focused on was here and now.

The Visorak readied their spinners and Nokama held her Fin Barb up defensively, prepared to reflect them away from her. However, she soon realized they weren't aiming for her. Instead, they targeted the only they _knew_ who couldn't fight back: Matau.

Without warning, the Visorak launched their rhotuka. No amount of speed would've been fast enough to carry in front of the green Hordika to protect him, so instead, Nokama launched her own spinner. The water rhotuka collided with them, sending a tidal wave towards the spider's direction.

The blue Hordika ran up guarded Matau jealously, her pupils shrinking in her eyes.

Matau, for his part, attempted to look as fierce as he could, although he knew he couldn't help. _This is so pathetic!_

"Come on!" Nokama roared. "I'll take you all on! You cannot defeat me!"

That turned out to be a big mistake.

All at once, the Visorak charged forth. Inadequately prepared for the sudden numbers, Nokama was thrown on the defensive as she batted away their attacks and rhotuka. She growled and waited for an opening to launch her spinner, hoping to push them back. She was unaware of a lone Keelerak creeping up behind her.

Matau called out a warning too late. The Keelerak propelled itself forward, too fast for Nokama to dodge...

Until a small green form descended from the trees and slam the Visorak to the ground.

"Lesson 1. Never turn your back at your enemy, especially while the battle is still going." Iruini spoke smugly, as he used his staff to effectively strangle the spider.

Matau grinned, happy to see his cynical friend return. _With Iruini here, Gaaki can't be too away-far too!_

Sure enough, another form fell from the skies and smashed a Visorak, this one belonging to the female Rahaga.

Nokama turned to her, relieved to see her. But there was a question racking her mind. "Gaaki! How did you-"

"We saw the Visorak gathering together and decided to see what was up." she then castled an angry glance at the ex-Toa of water. "Next time, don't let yourself be followed!" she scolded.

Nokama fought back an urge to retort angrily. Instead, she swiped her claw at a nearby Visorak that attempted to cling to her back, taking off one of its legs in the process. Distracted by the pain, it had no chance to counter when Nokama stuck her Fin Barb in its head, thereby killing it. With the minor annoyance taken care of, she knelt down and slung Matau's right arm over her shoulder and stood up.

"We need to get out of here, now!" she called to the two Rahaga.

A Keelerak spinner whizzed by her, missing her mask by inches. She retaliated by firing her own rhotuka, which blew a couple of Visorak back with its tidal wave.

Iruini was already heading for a clearing. "Follow us!" he called, not even bothering to look back.

As quickly as she could, Nokama followed after him while supporting Matau. While she lagged behind considerably, she was still able to move fast enough to just keep her ahead of the Visorak, while she battled them off.

_They're still hurting from the battle before,_ Gaaki noted as she stood close to Nokama. _It looks like this team is comprised of mostly reinforcements. They're unfamiliar with the land... which gives us a slight advantage. Emphasis on 'slight'._

Her musings were broken as a green rhotuka shot out towards the Visorak and released a mini-cyclone. "Matau!" Nokama cried. "Careful! Don't over exert yourself!"

"I was just trying to help-assist!" Matau grumbled, trying his best to ignore his throbbing stomach. He felt his waist grow wet, and frowned. _Wonderful. I re-opened my wound-cuts!_ He growled.

It took a while for the group to maneuver through the abandoned city. At one point, they even lost track of Iruini for a minute, before managing to catch up with him after a Keelerak jumped at him.

Finally, Iruini smiled as they reached their intended destination. A small opening in the earth that led down to the archives. "Quick, in here!" he called.

Nokama, Matau and Gaaki followed, entering the small staircase. Once they were in deep enough, Iruini began to push a large boulder he had hidden in the hole and used it to seal the entrance before the Visorak had a chance to enter. Once that was done, he urged the others deeper into the caverns, away from the entrance.

Gaaki led the way, feeling her hands against the walls for any openings. She soon felt an opened door and herded the rest in before following. She closed the stone slab that acted as the door way, leaving an inch open so they wouldn't be trapped inside.

Nokama laid Matau against the wall and stopped to catch her breathe. Once she had done this, she turned to Iruini and Gaaki. "How did you find this?"

"While I was searching around for herbs earlier, I discovered and opening to the archives." Gaaki replied. "I decided to prepare a trap in case we ever had to escape in here... it was a good thing I did."

Nokama nodded her head.

There was a moment of tense silence as everyone waited, listening for any sounds of the Visorak breaking in. There were faint noises of something hard slamming into rock, and the echoes of tiny feet of the spiders tapping against the ground. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, followed by what sounded like a stampede of Visorak flooding into the archives.

Iruini peered through the crack in the door and saw many Visorak in the hallways, unaware of their presence for now. The mutated beings held their breath and prayed for good luck. If a Visorak happened to see them, they were dead.

Eventually, the activity died down and the Visorak retreated, disappointed at the loss. They knew their viceroy would not be happy.

Once they were sure all of the spiders were gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one..." Nokama muttered. "Too close..."

"So what happens now?" Matau asked.

"We're not out of danger yet." Iruini muttered. "The Visorak will still be searching the archives for us. It won't be long before they get adequate enough numbers and thoroughly search through here. In the mean time, we have to rest and wait. We'll need our full strength if we want to face them and rescue our friends."

"We brought the supplies we gathered with us." Gaaki said pointing to the sack she had slung around her shoulders. "With these herbs and tools... I may be able to sew Matau's wounds back together again.

"What?!" the green Hordika asked, surprised.

"It's the only way for you to get better." Gaaki replied. "Now get some rest. This is going to take a while..."

_To be continued..._

Gyah. This chapter gave me SO much trouble... I intended it to be longer... And I'm not too wild about the ending, but ah... bleh.

Once again, a thousand apologies for the lateness of this chapter. Feel free to string me upside down and throw tiny darts at my face.


	4. Enemies and Escape

A/N: I'm baa-aa-aaa-aaack! This time for real! Aren't you all glad to see me after... counts on fingers four, five, what, six months? Maybe more? Yeah... I'm really sorry about that, I do feel terrible, trust me. But I feel I've got control over this story more. I know exactly what I want to do and where I want to go with it. Also, I have next to no medical knowledge about... anything, really, so I'm doing mostly guesswork when it comes to healing and sewing wounds. If I make any mistakes, please tell me.

**Disclaimer:** Me no owny Bionicle. Lego does. I only own... er... well, I guess you could say I own some of the random Visorak that appear in this story, because you couldn't really say they appeared in the canon, but then again... meh.

Chapter 4

Sometimes he wondered why he ever got out of his web every morning. Then he remembered: because if he didn't, then Roodaka and Sidorak would kill him for his laziness. On the other hand, with situations such as these, getting up out of the web was only delaying the inevitable if they did not retrieve the two remaining Toa Hordika.

The Keelerak commander of the Le-Metru squad stared angrily down the hallways of the archives. They were so close... so close at having captured their prey! But it appeared that the prey had a plan all along.

He was sure they had trapped them before. One Hordika was down while the other was caught off-guard and acting on impulse and anger. And the two annoying little Rahaga had been nowhere in sight... or so they thought.

The Keelerak almost didn't know what was worse. Having to explain to Roodaka how they let the Hordika get away, or including the fact that they had let themselves be followed by those blasted Rahaga. Well, he could always leave that part out of the report. But that still left him with the other problem.

The Visorak were not stupid. They knew if they had chased the Toa into underground caverns, apparently was known as the "archives" to the residents of the island before, there was not enough room or enough time to get very far away. And since nobody found them down the hallways, they must have been hiding behind one of the many doors.

So the squadron had taken to do demolishing every door they could find... and still no Hordika or Rahaga.

They had completely disappeared.

It seemed impossible. Could they have slipped out of their hiding place unnoticed? No, that was impossible. Nearly the entire Le-Metru horde was down below searching for them... they _couldn't_ have escaped undetected. Especially not with an injured man…

So where could they have gone?

There was only one way to find out, he feared: they would have to search all of the archives.

Yes, Roodaka would not be happy at all...

Nokama had to admit, she was greatly impressed by the Rahaga.

When Gaaki had told her that they had actually been living in the underground archives for about fifty years or so prior to her adventures, she had initially disbelieved her. After all, how could six rahi remain completely undetected without anyone suspecting anything?

But when Iruini revealed that they had actually created a tunnel to another level within the room they were occupying, all doubts on her mind were lifted. There was a small crack in the wall of the room, barely wide and tall enough for a Hordika to fit through that led to another side of the hallway. As quietly as they could, the Toa and Rahaga slipped out of the room and traveled through the empty hallways, searching for a way out. They made sure to take plenty of turns, hoping to put as much distance from them and the Visorak horde as possible.

Eventually, after about a half an hour of hurried jogging through the tunnels, Matau began to wear out. Realizing that they could no further without serious consequences for the green Hordika, the group decided to stop for a while and hide out in a nearby room. The four piled into a small space where they intended to rest for a while, although the feeling of fear and anxiety hung in the air, as they knew they didn't get that far away from the Visorak. None of them knew how long they had until they were found, but they intended to take this opportunity to rest up.

Surprisingly, a long time had passed since the group had become trapped within the rooms of the archive. Perhaps they were farther away from the horde than they realized, though nobody had dared to leave the room to check out if the coast was clear. They knew they couldn't risk barging outside at the moment. They had to take this time to rest up.

Gaaki had begun the long, agonizing operation on Matau a while ago. She had numbed him and put him to sleep with various herbs she had collected, and was currently laboring away sewing up his wounds. Not for the first time in her life, the blue Rahaga was thankful for Bomonga's medical lessons and made a mental to note to thank him when they rescued everyone.

Meanwhile, Nokama and Iruini stood at the opposite side of the room and stared at the door. Iruini was deep in thought, scribbling things in the ground with his staff, presumably escape plans. To the on-looker, it would mostly look like gibberish, but then again, he always did have a certain style that only he seemed to understand.

Nokama would occasionally sneak a glance at the doodles and attempt to decipher them. When she failed, she would turn her attention to the door in front of her play mind games with herself, such as naming all the colors in the room (mostly green and brown), counting high numbers, and reciting her old speeches she would explain to her classes. This was all to keep her anxious mind off Matau and the other Hordika, and her fear.

She was scared for her brothers, that much was certain. She had no idea what they could be going through right now, or if they were even alive. She was afraid that they, the Toa, would never be able to complete their mission. By failing, they would be condemning all of the Matoran to eternal sleep and death in the coliseum, and they would lose the island forever. She was afraid of losing Matau, not only because she would be losing a teammate and the only other fighter, but also because she would be losing a very close friend. She didn't know why exactly, but she hated to think of what would happen if he ever died. There was something about him... she didn't know. She always felt so good around him, whether she admitted it or not, and she didn't want to lose that. She was also afraid of what might be outside that door. Were there Visorak prowling around, or was the coast clear? She was torn between wanting to check it out for herself and fearfully hiding in the shadows until she was absolutely certain everything was okay. But most of all, Nokama was afraid... of herself.

Ever since she had killed the ash bear, she had not been herself. She was in constant conflict with her beast side, fighting desperately to keep it under to control and tamed. She had so much on her mind right now, it was practically impossible for her to remain passive all the time. Being trapped underground for long periods of time with almost nothing else to do but think wasn't exactly helping, either. It was either play mind games or engage in a duel of words with her beast and both activities were bound to get tiring very fast.

Also, she was hungry.

Because they had no idea how long they were going to be trapped underground, they had to conserve their food supply, which meant they could only eat very little of their scavenging and only after long periods of time.

When Nokama was a Matoran, she hardly ever had to eat. All she had to do was go to a certain food hub located in all the Metru and get her monthly supply of food energy. She only had to this ever month so often, and when she did, it took only a little more than five minutes. But ever since she had turned into a Hordika, she discovered that she had to eat more often. And not in the normal way, either. When before, all she had to do was extract all the energy and proteins from the food, she now had to actually force it into her mouth and swallow it, much like rahi did. It was a very weird experience, especially since the food often had a strange taste accompanying it. But it was a good experience, and she found herself enjoying eating more and more. It was like torture to keep her from meals for too long. Her self-control was pushed to its max. But normal hunger wasn't the only thing that gnawed at her.

The smell of blood drifted through the room and to her nostrils, coming from Matau's wounds. She had refused to watch Gaaki's operations for two reasons: one, it was rather gruesome to watch, and two, the sight of blood only served to heighten her hunger. She felt sick at the very thought, but she couldn't help it. Her rahi was a carnivore primarily, and it was animal instinct that along with blood came food. Her self-control was being tested to its limits.

How much longer could she hold out? She didn't know. Being trapped underground, waiting to escape, one of her own injured and bleeding... it was almost too much.

"Getting a little claustrophobic?"

She blinked in surprise and stared at the speaker of the question. Iruini stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Hesitantly, she nodded. "Y... yes. I am feeling a little... closed in." she admitted. For some reason, she felt embarrassed saying this.

Iruini nodded his head. "That's to be expected." he said. "We've been sitting in here for a little over than a day now."

"How can you tell?" Nokama asked.

"I don't really know. It's just guesswork. But it seems about right." He shrugged his shoulders.

It was shoddy logic, she knew, but it made sense to her, and it was the only thing she had to go on. She stared at the floor for a while, trying to think of something to talk about. She had kept silent because she didn't want to disturb the green rahaga from his thinking, but it was obvious he wouldn't mind a little conversation any more than she did.

"How much longer do you think we will remain here?" she asked. She sounded just like some of her more impatient students.

"As long as it takes." Was his sharp reply. "But for all our sakes... I hope it's soon."

More time passed. Hours, maybe. She couldn't tell. And she didn't care. All that mattered to her right now was getting out, helping Matau, keeping her beast under control, and helping her brothers. At one time, she would've been considered the most patient Toa of the team, but right now, as the minutes passed by, all she could think about was escaping. It took all of her self-control not to try to break out on her own.

She curled herself into a ball on the floor and closed her eyes, hoping to fall into a deep sleep. Maybe when she woke up, they'd be ready to leave by then. Just as she began to feel genuinely tired, a moan broke out.

She glanced up and discovered that the uncomfortable noise had come from Matau, who had just recovered from his numbed sleep. A large smile crept onto her lips. "Matau!" she called, as she joined the Rahaga as they gathered around the healing Hordika.

"How are you feeling?" Iruini asked him.

"Urgh... my stomach feels like... somebody opened it and rearranged-jumbled it..." he replied with a groan as he reached for his bandaged wound. He cast a glare at the blue Rahaga. "What did you DO?"

"Just saved your life, of course." she responded sharply, annoyed by his reaction. "You should be thanking me!"

"For what? Break-hurting my stomach?" he countered.

"Of all the-!"

"Calm down!" Nokama's voice echoed angrily. Immediately, the duo ceased their argument and stared at her, surprised by her sudden explosion. She felt the weight of their gazes and lowered her head sheepishly, disturbed by her own forcefulness.

It was Iruini who came to her rescue. "We should all save our energy for later, for other fights against the Visorak." he said. "Right now, we should be focusing on the most pressing fact: what to do now. It's not safe to remain here. It's only been pure luck we haven't been discovered as of yet, but that won't last long. We need to escape the archives, now."

Everybody had to agree with this. They voiced their approval with a unanimous nod of heads.

"But how do we do it, exactly?" Matau asked. "For all we know, there could be hundreds of Visorak prowling outside this door, right now!"

"Doubtful." Gaaki interjected. "If there were several Visorak, they wouldn't be hanging around the hallways; they'd be breaking down walls and searching for us."

"They're probably doing that right now, just not around this wing." Iruini pointed out. "Besides, even if there were just a couple of Visorak, it would be too many. They would alert the others, and we'd be up to our masks in spiders... again." he sounded more than a little exasperated with his last remark, thinking back to earlier.

Nokama agreed whole-heartedly with him. "Still, if there are just a few, I could take them out quickly before they even know it." she said.

"I suppose that's true..." Gaaki nodded, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "It's still risky, though."

"In a situation like this, you have to take risks." Iruini reminded. "How about this: I'll step out and check if the coast is clear. If it is, we get the heck out of here and head for another Metru. If not, well, we'll hide here for a little while longer. Don't worry, I won't be seen... I'm faster and stealthier than I look."

Nobody else could find total fault with this plan and agreed. All, except for Matau. "Why don't we just make a new tunnel and dig out of here?" he suggested. "We did that before..."

"First off, it'll be too loud. It's a miracle the Visorak haven't found us already with all our bickering, but if we start blowing down walls, they'll be sure to come running. Second, these walls are pretty thick. It'll be difficult for water and wind to break through them, and it would take up too much energy to do so, especially yours." Iruini explained.

The green Hordika narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying to say that my element is weak?" he growled.

"No. It's just impractical for that particular use." Iruini replied calmly, un-intimidated. "Wind is a powerful element... just not good for knocking down structures as much as say, earth or stone."

Matau quieted down, knowing there was no real reason to continue the argument.

"So we agreed. Iruini, are you ready to go?" Nokama asked. She was beginning to grow impatient, she desperately wanted out of this enclosed space.

Iruini nodded in response. "Of course."

With that, he quietly opened up the door and stepped out.

Sidorak sneered smugly at the Rahaga trapped within the hanging cages. Those rahkshi freaks had been thorns in his side for far too long, he was going to enjoy extracting his revenge for all the grief they caused him. And of course, he was going to take things very, very slowly.

If he was afraid at all, Norik was doing an excellent job of masking it. He held a defiant expression and stared boldly into the Visorak King's eyes, telling him 'you will not frighten us'. Inside, it made Sidorak furious. He hated unfaithful soldiers.

"At last, we meet again... freak." he began, puncturing his last word with a glare of malice. "Once again, you find yourselves trapped within my- OUR clutches." he glanced towards his Viceroy, who had shot him an intimidating glance at the mention of 'me', but remained silent otherwise. "Although, this time, I can promise you... there will be no escape."

"I seem to recall you making similar threats to us before," Pouks sneered, as he pressed his face up against his cage bars. "And I believe we all know how that story ended."

Rage surged through Sidorak's body as he moved towards the cage with his weapons drawn. "Why you little-!" he froze suddenly when he saw that the Rahaga carried no hint of fear with their expressions. They were not going to be intimidated so easily.

Although this knowledge only made him angrier inside, he managed to compose himself before he did anything too rash. "I'll... give you credit, Rahaga. Even trapped within those cages of yours, you manage to... remain calm." his eye twitched slightly when he noticed Kualus chuckle softly, apparently amused by his antics.

It took all of Roodaka's self-control to keep from rolling her eyes. _Even in victory, Sidorak proves to be nothing but a fool..._ she thought bitterly.

The Visorak Lord continued. "But you don't quite seem to understand this situation fully... unlike before, there were two others out there to come to your rescue. Now, your only allies are rotting corpses, and there is no-one to save you."

His mouth twisted into a maniacal sneer that even Norik found disturbing. "But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you all just yet," he spoke with a small hint of sick enthusiasm. "No, no... you have been too great a thorn in my side for me to just kill you like this... you deserve a much more... _involved_ punishment."

The Rahaga made no reply. Instead, they stood still and bore expressions, wordlessly telling him to do his worst.

"Guards! Take these pathetic down to the lower chambers. The Vohtarak, I'm sure, would love to have them as their 'guests'." Sidorak ordered.

Bowing obediently, the Visorak grabbed each cage with their pincers and proceeded to wheel them down to the lower chambers, otherwise known as the torture grounds. The spiders moved rather quickly, as if eager to see the blood of the enemy spilt.

Norik closed his eyes and thought of his lost comrades. No matter how hard he tried to accept it, he just couldn't believe that they were gone. They had to be alive... he knew it; they just had to be alive!

_And Mata Nui, I pray that they are in a better situation than we are._

"Okay, let's go. The path is mostly clear."

Although it was impossible to deny the rush of relief everyone felt upon seeing Iruini's small green head poke his way into the room, neither could they deny the confusion generated by his odd statement.

"'Mostly'? What does THAT mean?" Matau asked, although he dreaded the answer.

"It means exactly as it sounds. The path is mostly clear, just a few Visorak here and there..."

"Oh, just few, is there? Just like there was only a 'few' Visorak that ambushed us, captured our allies and nearly killed me?!" Matau growled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Iruini narrowed his eyes at the green Hordika and held up his staff threateningly. "If you want, we can sit here and argue for a while and miss our only chance to escape." he snapped. "Now move! If we hurry, we can cut through a small hallway and make our way past the Visorak patrols on the northern edge..."

Once again, he disappeared behind the stone slab door, only this time he was followed by Gaaki. Nokama stood up and moved towards the door, but paused before she passed. She glanced behind her to see Matau slowly approach her.

"Matau, do you need any help walking?" she offered.

Matau blinked, surprised by her kind offering. As he thought about it, he bit his lip, before shaking his head. "No... Don't worry about me. I'll be right behind you." he said a little hesitantly. Although he touched and happy by her concern, and even though he did feel a little dizzy when walking, his pride just couldn't take any more assistance. He was feeling better, he shouldn't need any baby-sitter.

Nokama nodded understandingly before trotting out after the Rahaga. She kept her pace purposefully slow for Matau to catch up. Even if he said he didn't want any help, she wanted to keep a constant eye on him just in case.

The hallway echoed with sounds of Visorak footsteps, slowly growing louder with each vibration. The four moved as quickly and quietly as they possibly could, their hearts pounding wildly in their chests.

Iruini was in the lead, dragging his staff along the wall to help navigate through the piercing darkness. Suddenly he stopped, and motioned the others to gather around him.

"In here!" he ordered as he dashed into a black-pitched room. The others followed him closely, quickening their pace as they did.

Matau risked a glance behind him and gulped. He could almost make out the tip of a Visorak pincer through the darkness. _Blast, we're going to be quick-found...!_ He gulped and ran faster.

The group no longer cared to keep their presence quiet. Now they broke into a run, their claws pounding against the ground loudly and echoing through the corridors. But surprisingly, there was no sound of the Visorak following or giving chase. That still did not keep them from racing through the archives, too worried to care about stopping and checking if they were indeed alone again.

Eventually, as they ran, the tunnels became lighter, and the air grew colder. _We must be getting to an opening..._ Iruini realized. _Which would be right around... there!_

Indeed, up ahead, there was an opening. Faint stars shone through the clouds, casting small illuminations through the blanket of darkness that surrounded them. Hope realized, the four rushed toward it, the sky's dim stars appearing as beacons of light against the total blackness they had experience before in the archives.

As Matau stepped out into the open, he gleefully took in the sweet scent of fresh air, happy to be free of the confines of the in-closed tunnels. For a moment he entered a state of ecstasy, his animal side rejoicing in experiencing the clear, clean freedom of wide-open spaces and the wind that accompanied it, until an unusually cold breeze snapped him out of his joyous trance.

It was then did he realize how could he felt. His feet were practically numb to his legs, buried deep within some somewhat soft, mushy substance, and he felt himself shiver involuntarily as the icy wind nipped at his body. He realized that there was only one place that could have this kind of effect on him.

"Ko-Metru." he said as he observed the vast snow-covered land.

Iruini turned to him. "Have you been here before?" he asked.

"No, not really." Matau confessed. "I never wanted to go visit-see the land-home of stuck-up scholars before."

"I was in Ko-Metru for a little while once." Nokama spoke up. It was obvious from her expression and tone she was a little more disappointed than Matau at arriving in this particular Metru. "I was playing along the borders in Ga-Metru when I fell in the Ko-Metru canal. I nearly froze to death in those waters."

"You played along the borders?" Matau blinked. That was a risky thing to do, something that he would've never thought she would do.

"It wasn't like I meant to fall in or anything!" Nokama replied defensively.

"I'm not accusing you of anything!" Matau replied. In truth, he was actually impressed. She was gutsier and more adventurous than he realized, something he really liked in a person.

Before the blue Hordika could respond, Gaaki stood in between them. "We are wasting time here," she scolded. "This is our chance to escape. We must find shelter and regroup now, before the Visorak realize we are no longer in the archives!"

"...Right. Sorry, let's go." Nokama muttered softly.

A small Oohnorak crept slowly across the coliseum grounds as if reluctant to move any further. He had good reason for his hesitation, however. He had been chosen, or rather, forced by the horde to deliver the message of their failure in capturing the last two Hordika to viceroy Roodaka. Everyone knew that delivering such news was practical suicide, as she did not take such reports with calm patience. As such, the Visorak decided if that one of them would have to die, then it should at least be a soldier who nobody would miss. As usual, that fell onto an Oohnorak, the very bottom of the Visorak food chain.

There wasn't much he could do, really. He was but a single lone soldier against a thousand, his insignificant opinion and life did not matter to anyone else. At least this way he would be doing something useful for the horde. Still, he could not help but be fearful of his job. He did not want to die, as no sane creature would. It was only out of loyalty did he take the few agonizing steps towards his inevitable doom.

_Shh, shh._

The Oohnorak froze. There was an odd noise coming from a nearby bush, as though something was hiding behind it. It was probably just some odd rahi, but it still gave him pause.

_I should be entitled to a last meal..._ the spider mused as he stared at the rustling bush. He approached it cautiously, preparing to fire his rhotuka. He had no intention of letting the small creature escape, he did not feel up for a chase.

He pulled back the bush with his pincers to reveal a small lava eel. He gave the Visorak equivalent of a frown at the rahi, he had been hoping it would've been a tastier morsel rather than the super hot creature. Still, a meal was a meal, and he was about to fire his rhotuka when all of a sudden the eel transformed into a golden rahkshi. Surprised, the spider had little time to react before the rahkshi summoned a small cloud around it and let loose a barrage of concentrated lightning bolts at its body. Unable to move, defend, or escape, the Oohnorak could only absorb each hit, before the pain became too great and he slipped into painful unconsciousness, which was followed quickly by death.

The Rahkshi stared at the fallen monster, almost as if it was glaring at it, before finally picking up and discarding its charred remains behind the bush. Then it morphed once again, this time transforming itself into a perfect image and likeness of Toa Nokama Metru.

The fake Nokama stared up angrily at the coliseum walls. "You, leaders of the Visorak horde..." she spoke to no-one in particular, her voice dripping with malice. "You who have enslaved this land, my home. Know that your days as tyrants and as living beings are numbered."

She then narrowed her eyes into slits. "So says I, Krahka."

_To be continued..._

A/N: Dun dun dunnn...! Hope this makes up for the wait... although I don't think it was one of my best. Sigh...


	5. Infiltration and Ice

I blame my lack of updates right now as a sudden interest in the Transformers/BeastWars fandom has suddenly taken up my attention, plus my writing muse for Bionicle has decided to take another vacation. If anyone's got any requests, I'd be happy to take them. I'll do pretty much anything, save for smut and yaoi/yuri (Notau prompts would be appreciated, but I don't really care WHAT the prompt is, just something to get my creative gears working again).

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bionicle. It belongs to Lego. The only things I technically own are some of the random Visorak you see, but they're just props, so... yeah. I pretty much don't own a thing.

Chapter 5

In the form of a small stone rat, Krahka made her way onto the coliseum grounds, taking special care to avoid any noise so as not to attract anymore unwanted attention. It wouldn't be too long before the one Visorak she had just killed was discovered, and she wanted to complete her job before any more alarms were raised.

_It wouldn't be good to give my position away to the tyrants before I am ready._ She thought as she morphed once again, this time into the form of a Boggarak Visorak after confirming that there were no nearby sentries to witness the transformation.

For a moment after transforming, she stood completely still. She gave herself a moment to become used to her arachnid body, waiting for the awkward feeling of having six legs disappear before moving to take her first step. That was the biggest problem with her abilities. Although she could perfectly take the form of any living creature (provided it _had_ a solid form) along with its powers, she could never gain that creature's bare instincts, making even simple actions such as walking or talking (in whatever) tongue difficult, despite it being second nature to the creature itself.

_One, two..._ she counted in her mind as she moved her first left leg forward, followed by her right. Then the second left, second right, third left, third right, so on and so on until soon she was crawling along the coliseum grounds in perfect sync. She snapped her pincers for practice, feeling them clank together. In her mind, she let herself smile. Excellent. This was going along better than she had thought...

_Click click click._

She froze as she saw two large shadows reflected against the walls. They could've only belonged to some Visorak.

She struggled to calm herself down and think of a plan. _Don't worry about them._ She told herself as she began moving, trying to act as natural as possible. _Walk past them. Ignore them. Don't engage them. They'll ignore you..._

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

_"Hey, you!"_

One of the Visorak, a large Vohtarak, crawled over to her, his pincers clicking irregularly. Krahka grimaced in her mind, although she could understand languages at a much faster pace than other creatures, it was still a pain to learn how to communicate with others. She tried to decipher the meaning of his words, and then repeated quietly back, _"hey."_

The Vohtarak eyed her carefully. _"So... what's a pretty little thing like you doin' down here on the lower levels? Off shift?"_ he asked.

If Krahka had hands at the moment and wasn't trying to blend in, she would've face palmed for sure. _Is this idiot trying to flirt with me? "N... No..." _she spoke, struggling with the words. _"Not off-shift."_

_"Oh. Still on sentry-duty, eh?"_ he asked.

_"Yes... still on sentry-duty."_ she replied carefully.

_"Is that so? Well then, you outta check me out!"_ he puffed out his chest proudly (or the Visorak equivalent), completely serious.

It took every ounce of Krahka's self-control to keep from groaning. _I suppose idiots exist in all races..._

Eager to escape from the Vohtarak's unnecessary attention (and any more pick-up lines), she left his sight without another word. She walked as quickly as she could without breaking into a frantic run to keep ahead, now even more determined to find and dispense with Roodaka and Sidorak without another incident.

As she walked, she toyed with several different ideas of how to destroy the two tyrants. Should she poison them by turning into a poisonous rahi, or should she turn into a larger rahi and simply kill them like that? In fact, whom should she kill first? At first she thought that it was Sidorak she should aim for, but as she thought about it, she realized that Roodaka was the dangerous one.

She had heard from other rahi that the viceroy was incredibly crafty and manipulative, but most of all she was ruthless. This was a woman who always thought everything through; there wasn't a single movement that she made that wasn't part of a grander scheme to further help her needs. It was obvious that she was the more dangerous one, and therefore she was the one who had to die first.

Yes, it was clear now. Roodaka had to be the first one to go, and her king would be second. Then, the island could be free...

_To do what...?_ Krahka paused for a moment as another thought struck her. What if after defeating the two tyrants that she should take their place? What would happen then? She would assume control over the Visorak and the entire city, just as she had once planned to do so long ago before the Toa interfered...

_No. I cannot._ She shook her head. _In the state this island is, I would indeed be ruler of nothing, just as the Toa had said. I would be no better than the tyrants themselves._ It was a rather harsh reality, but it was reality. Besides, she had come to realize the downside of total control. No creature, rahi or Matoran, ever wanted to be completely controlled, to be in total enslavement to another, and it was a fate that no one should suffer.

_Sidorak and Roodaka will fall and Metru Nui will be free._ Krahka vowed as she began to ascend the walls to the upper levels. _Today._

Krahka was busy exploring the second floor of the coliseum in an attempt to make it to the third floor when a feral scream followed by a loud thwamp echoed through the corridors. She braced herself and readied her rhotuka spinner, a defensive habit that she picked up from watching Visorak on their patrols.

It took a few moments of nothing happening for her to realize that this was a foolish move. She eased her body, but became curious as to whom or what made the sound.

She noticed there was a ledge not too far ahead and made her there. The ledge overlooked a series of grates that led down into various jail cells in the lower floors. Three of these cells were occupied.

Growing even more curious, Krahka walked towards the edge and peered down, her eyes resting on a particular cell where a large, hulking beast stood shakily, eyeing the door of bars that separated him and freedom. The creature was covered in bruises and blood, and breathing heavily from exhaustion. Yet its eyes burned with a fiery determination that both disturbed her and yet fascinated her. Then, with a cry, it charged forth and slammed against the bars only to be met with a bone-shattering crash.

Krahka winced as she heard a snapping sound resound from the creature that now let out a howl of pain. _What a... stupid creature._ She thought, and yet, she could not help but pity it.

What she heard next, though, shocked her.

"Stupid... stupid... LET ME OUT!"

The creature spoke. In a voice that was so very familiar to her, but took a moment for her to realize.

"Toa."

Indeed, it was. She recognized the two other creatures as well. There was no mistaking it, these three monsters were the same Toa Metru she had faced before in the underground tunnels, only now they were beasts.

_Just as I had once been._

Krakha blinked. Where did that come from? She tried to shove the odd thought away and instead focus on the brown Toa before her, who was groveling on the ground, clutching his injured, and most likely broken arm.

Onewa. That had been his name, hadn't it? She remembered taking his form once to fool the Toa. She had to admit, out of all the forms she had stolen; his power had to have been the most fun to control. She felt like she had so much strength, it was most fun to see her enemies buried under piles and piles of stone as opposed to water or air, or fire or ice.

_I should thank you, Toa Onewa._ She had meant it as a mockery, to sneer at him in sniveling state he was now, but to her surprise, she found that the comment was actually... genuine. Why, she had no idea. It was a thought, he couldn't hear her, she should've had control over it. Yet, it was true. She really did-

_Stop Krahka. You are getting distracted!_ She scolded herself. _You are not here to watch and compliment some pitiful Toa; you are here on a mission. You have no time for idle thoughts... or idle wishes._

Closing her eyes, the shape-shifter forced her walk away from the ledge. But before she left the room, she paused, and turned around.

"The Visorak mutated you, didn't they." it wasn't a question, nor was it spoken loud enough for anyone other than herself to really hear, yet she felt as though she needed to say something. "Toa, I may not how exactly you came to be or why you came to be what you are, but I promise you, I will make the Visorak pay."

_Cold. Too cold. Need heat._

Those were the only thoughts on the blue Hordika's mind as she and her friends trudged through the knee-deep snow and against the fierce, icy winds. As a resident of Ga-Metru, she was somewhat used to slightly cold weather, as her city was the northern most of the island, but never like this. Her metru only got as cold as water's freezing point, which was roughly 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. Ko-Metru, on the other hand, had temperatures far below that, making her, a being highly in tuned with water, at a serious risk for hypothermia.

She was so cold that she didn't even object to when Matau started cuddling up with her to; as he said it, help keep her warm. The suspicious thought that he was doing this just to get close to her did occur to her momentarily, but right now her desire for some sort of warmth trumped her pride and she accepted him. Surprisingly, though, he hadn't made any flirtatious attempts with her yet, making her wonder if he was just as desperate for body heat as she was. And considering his Metru was southern most and he didn't usually deal with chilly weather as this, it was extremely likely.

The two Rahaga followed in the back, also keeping close to the two larger beings. Gaaki, the natural born tracker, had at first been in the lead, but when the winds started to really pick up, she had to move to the back as she was just getting too much snow in her eyes.

Nokama let out a cross between a snort and a gag as she felt some snow slam into her face, blown by the wind. It sent shivers down her spine and only heightened her annoyance. _We're in a freaking blizzard!_ she thought angrily as she wiped her snout. _I didn't even know this Mata Nui-forsaken city could GET blizzards!_

She had, after all, never been to Ko-Metru before.

The group had been walking around for what felt like hours and hours, with nothing but snow and more snow in sight. It hadn't been so bad when they first began, just a little bit of wind and a light snowfall, but then the blizzard hit. Now, if they couldn't find some sort of shelter and soon, there was a very real chance that they all could freeze to death.

Nokama suddenly paused and squinted her eyes. Matau looked at her.

"Do you see something?" he asked.

"I... I think I see... some sort of building." she replied. "I think it may be a knowledge tower..."

"Tower? As in shelter?" Iruini seemed to perk up at the mention (which surprised her. She didn't know he could hear her through the howls of the wind).

"Yes... yes! I'm sure of it now, I see a Knowledge tower!" Nokama cried.

Matau's eyes widened, indicating that he, too, could see the building in question. "I see it too! Come on, let's hurry-go!" he called, before taking off as fast one could go through knee-deep snow.

As the group approached, they could feel the winds die down a bit as the tower came in sight. Nokama could not hide her grin, but it soon disappeared when she saw the tower's doors.

Ice had formed around the outer rims and on the door knobs. Matau had tried to gently pull on the door but could not move it. "It's jammed!" he complained irritably.

But he was not deterred. After another unsuccessful tug at the door, the green Hordika stepped back and launched his rhotuka, breaking down the door with a controlled, tiny mini-cycle and granting the group access.

Iruini chuckled. "Great. Now we'll have to fix the door." he half joked.

Matau however didn't seem to notice the cynicism in his friend's voice, as he stood in the entry-way with a smug smirk on his face and a puffed-out chest. "No need to thank me!" he said in mock humility.

"Good, because I'm not."

"Hey!"

"You two, can we _please_ get in?!" Gaaki hissed. "I'm freezing my mask off!"

"Alright, alright, calm down! Geez..." Matau stepped out of the way and allowed the two females entry.

Once inside, Nokama shook all of the snow off her body. "I'm beginning to see why Ko-Metru has so little visitors." she muttered. "Only ice-heads like Ko-Matoran could possibly enjoy living here."

"Something tells me that this isn't exactly normal weather for this place, though." Gaaki said.

"You think it's unnatural?" Iruini asked. "Possibly caused by the Visorak?"

"No, I doubt it. It just feels like one of those once-in-awhile really, really, really bad blizzards." she explained.

"Once in a life-time, huh. Lucky us." Matau grumbled darkly.

Nokama glanced around the tower with interest. She had only heard stories about these places, but she had never gone into one herself. As it was abandoned, there wasn't much that was so magnificent, but it was still interesting to see and at the same time, sad. Tables and chairs were overturned, bookcases had fallen over and maps of all sorts of sizes were littered over the floor, most of them blown away by the wind of just ripped beyond recognition. She wondered how Nuju, who had spent most of his life in these places, would react to seeing his home in such a mess.

The very thought of her quiet teammate brought her thoughts back to their predicament, and her own guilt. What was happening to them right now? Were they even still alive? What would happen if they were dead?

_At least if they're dead, they won't have to deal with _this_ nightmare..._ she thought, wondering if she should be envious or not. She shivered again, suddenly feeling much colder than she had ever felt before.

Matau glanced at her worriedly. "Nokama, are you okay?" he asked, moving to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She snapped her head towards him. "I'm FINE!" she growled, causing him to step back in surprise. Once she realized what she had done, she hung her head shamefully. "I mean- I'm sorry, I'm okay. Just... just a little tired. And cold."

Matau simply nodded slowly at her.

Roodaka stood on the balcony of the Coliseum which overlooked the distant city of Le-Metru. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping her arm impatiently, as if she was waiting for someone. Beside her, a single Boggarak stood silently and unmoving, too nervous to make any noise or even the slightest movement, not wanting to do something that could possibly upset its viceroy.

"They're late." she snarled. "I was expecting a report from the Le-Metru horde by now, but nothing's come. Why is that, I wonder?" her eyes seemed to gleam with ill intent as she cast a suspicious gaze to her body guard, who began to quiver in fear. It started humming, desperate to say something that could hopefully calm her down.

Roodaka listened in with a bored look on her face. Then, her expression softened ever so slightly, and she turned to leave. "Perhaps you are right," she said as she began to walk down the hallway. "Perhaps I am being a little too impatient. These things take time, after all."

The Boggarak hurried down the hall to catch up with its mistress. "In order for one to be a good leader and a good strategist, one must have patience. The patience to think things through, the patience to execute a long, thought-up plan, and the patience to stick to one's goals. This is a necessity, not an option." Roodaka continued. "If there is one thing that Sidorak has, it is the patience to create a thorough plan, I will give him that. But in everything else, he lacks greatly. Unlike me..."

She eyed the Visorak suspiciously, with a clearly fake but wide smile. "And you. After are, you have enough patience to infiltrate my fortress, pose as my minion, and listen to my ranting, do you not?"

The Boggarak's eyes widened in shock, before narrowing. Then, before the smug viceroy's eyes, it transformed into the figure of Nokama Metru. "You are indeed as smart as your reputation says you are," she muttered coldly. "But I am not afraid. My name is Krahka, and my duty is to kill you."

The female rahi felt her anger rise as the scheming woman before her chuckled, clearly un-intimidated. "Smile all you want. You will not be so jolly once you are dead..." Krahka warned. "But before I do, tell me. What gave me away?"

"Your mannerisms are surprisingly similar to that of the fikou spider, an arachnid of similar build and looks, but completely different body language." her grin seemed to widen. "Though I must give you credit. As time went on, you did seem to pick up the movements rather quickly. Just not quick enough."

Krahka's hand morphed into a claw. She lashed out at the viceroy with all her strength, but Roodaka blocked it with her arm.

"Ah, temper, temper." she taunted. "You simply _must_ learn to control that temper. It could make you do... rash things."

Roodaka quickly launched her rhotuka. Before it could hit, however, Krahka quickly morphed into a small hoto fly and dodged. The rhotuka went off flying until it hit a nearby pillar.

Roodaka chuckled. "Good reflexes. But this is a rather tight battlefield, is it not? What say we move to a 'broader' arena for our fight?"

Krahka, still in the form of the hoto fly, stared suspiciously at her for a long moment. Then, transforming into a lava eel, she launched herself at the viceroy. "Not a chance!"

Roodaka simply narrowed her eyes. "Very well then."

_To be continued..._

A/N: I originally intended for Roodaka vs. Krahka fight to be in this chapter, but ah... I just couldn't figure out when to end the chap so it wouldn't look awkward. Shrug So, sorry again, but the battle WILL be in the next chap.


	6. Battle and Belation

**A/N:** Finally, the big battle between Roodaka and Krahka! It was kinda hard to write, if only because Krahka can keep changing form so she's got about a billion ways to fight, and Roodaka has to be able to logically counter them all despite her limited abilities. Buuuut I thought the end result wasn't too bad. It was my first time writing a battle.

**Disclaimer:** Don't. Own. Bionicle! I only own the nameless Visorak you see. And that flirty Vohtarak guy (do Visorak even have genders?).

A Vohtarak patrol glanced up. A loud boom had thundered from the coliseum, most likely caused by viceroy Roodaka's rhotuka. But if she fired it, that must mean she was locked in battle. But who could she be fighting?

His answer came to him in the form of a rahkshi creature being shoved off of the balcony by Roodaka her self, who was busy trying to stab it with her sword.

To his surprise, the rahkshi suddenly morphed into a fairly large lohrak beast. The sudden change in size and through Roodaka momentarily off-balance with her sword, allowing the rahi to lash out and bite her. But the viceroy was quick, she twisted her body around so the beast only manage to nail her right arm which she was using to hold onto its neck. Although a painful injury, it was nothing compared to what could of happened, and the vortixx was no stranger to dealing with such a wound. Instead, she took a hold of the beast's momentary distraction with what it had done and with her free hand stabbed in the neck. The rahi wailed in agony before shaking the viceroy off of its body.

Roodaka landed gracefully on her feet and moved her hand to her injured arm. She felt blood where teeth had found its marked and grumbled. She had little time to rest, however, as the lohrak had recovered from its injury and morphed into a Kirikori Nui, an insect rahi and was now making a nose-dive for her, preparing to bite her again. Roodaka fired another one of the rhotuka to which the being just barely dodged. It had to veer hard left in order to dodge which through it off balance and caused it to tumble to the floor. It once again changed from, this time into an Artahka Bull, and charged for Roodaka.

The Vohtarak watched intently and was about to raise his spinner to defend his viceroy, but paused when a thought occurred to him. What would happen if she lost? Roodaka would die... but would that really be a bad thing? She did have a habit of killing off many of the Visorak without reason. She had done so to one of his friends not long ago... perhaps if she was gone, then Sidorak wouldn't be so bad.

Yes, that was it. The Vohtarak lowered his spinner and instead decided to watch the battle's outcome. This should be interesting...

Roodaka had no time to fire another rhotuka, so she instead side-stepped the raging bull and brought out her sword, intending to stab the creature again. But Krahka transformed into a small lava eel immediately and ducked under the sword. Landing on the ground with a thump, she changed forms again back into an Artahka Bull. She swiped at the viceroy with her claws, but the woman managed to parry the blow with her sword. Krahka let out an angry huff and swiped again only to be blocked once more. This second block had left her dazed for about a split second, all the time Roodaka needed to land a counter blow. She performed a forward uppercut, planning to cut off the rahi's head, with a clean, quick and smooth single stroke. Krahka saw it coming and jumped back to avoid the blow, unfortunately she did not move fast enough and suffered a slightly deep cut to her chest.

Krahka's eyes narrowed as she saw Roodaka's lips curve into a smile as she felt her chest burn in pain. It was obvious that close combat was not a good idea, at least not while she was in a form that was relative to her size. Deciding to change tactics, she jumped back a ways again and transformed into the body of a blue and white rahkshi, a rahi that had limited control over electricity. With this body, she could easily attack Roodaka from a distance. She focused her staff and conjured a lightning bolt to appear to attack Roodaka.

It took 10 nano-seconds for her to realize just what power this rahkshi possessed from its color, and took her exactly 1 and half seconds to react. She rolled out of the way of the bolt and fired her rhotuka in retaliation. Krahka skillfully dodged the spinner and fired yet another bolt of lightning, to which Roodaka dodged again. They continued exchanging their attacks for a while, each dodging the other's blows until Krahka felt something slam against her shoulder, which she soon realized was a wall.

Krahka let out a curse. She was trapped! The rhotuka was heading right for her, and if she didn't think of something soon, she was going to be hit... and then who knows what would happen. She knew Roodaka's spinner had the ability to horribly mutate a creature beyond recognition, and although she was fairly confident that it wouldn't effect her too much with her shape-shifting abilities, she had no desire to take any chances. She morphed into the body of a lava eel once again, and like before, the rhotuka went spinning over her head- unfortunately, Krahka had forgotten the destructive power of the rhotuka. It collided with the wall and broke through it, creating a minor explosion that nearly tore her small body in two.

Krahka had been blown forward, and was now laying on the floor, confused and dazed, still in the form of the tiny lava eel. Roodaka approached her, her sword gleaming, ready for the killing blow. Krahka glanced up, her eel eyes gleaming with defiance.

_You will not be rid of me that easily!_

Krahka transformed into a Kikanalo. The large size of the rahi caused Roodaka to pause for a moment, giving Krahka all the time she needed. She let out a sonic roar that blew back the Roodaka into the nearby wall, and sent a bunch of Visorak, who were observing the match, scattering and running about to get out of the way. Krahka charged at Roodaka, intending to crush her with her large body, but the viceroy managed to recover quite quickly from her previous blow and leaped out of the stampeding rahi's way. Krahka was too late to stop her run, and she charged straight into the wall.

Roodaka took this time to gain some distance between her and the shape-shifter, before releasing a barrage of rhotuka spinners. Krahka noticed this, and prepared to transform into a smaller rahi to dodge just as she had done so before, when the viceroy suddenly charged forth. Krahka had been in the middle of transforming into a stone rat when Roodaka barreled into her, bringing her sword down to skewer the small rahi. Panicked, Krahka quickly morphed again into the form of a semi-large gukko-bird, blocking the viceroy's sword with her wing.

Roodaka smirked as she saw blood drip from the gukko's form. She pulled her sword out from the creature's wing and was prepared to stab her again, when Krahka swiped at her with her other wing. Roodaka effortlessly block the pitiful blow with her arms, but the attack had been used as a diversion to allow Krahka time to gather strength in her legs and leap away.

Once she was at least a bio away, Krahka decided to take a form she had hardly ever used. And that was the form of a Toa Metru.

Roodaka smirked as she found herself staring down at the perfect image of Toa Onewa. She could almost see her own face reflected in the fake Komau.

"How funny. Taking the form of the lesser of two evils now, are we?" Roodaka teased.

"Be quiet." Krahka hissed in Nokama's voice. "This will be over soon, and I prefer my prey to be silent when they die!" With a dangerous gleam in her eye she unleashed a powerful wave of elemental energy, surging with murderous intent that had never before shown in the hands of the original Toa of Stone.

Many of the Visorak that had crowded around to watch now scattered to avoid being hit by the great blast, but the evil viceroy remained perfectly still and calm, showing no sign of fear or even surprise, just simple amusement.

"How arrogant."

Moving faster than she had ever gone before, Roodaka effortlessly side-stepped the beam and rushed to wards her opponent, almost blissfully unaware of the large explosion the stray beam had caused behind her. Krahka reared back, surprised by her quick dodge. Bad mistake.

Roodaka took this precious distraction as a chance to swing her sword, with Krahka only able to parry the blow. The viceroy grinned and swung her blade a second time, only to blocked again. Several more times Roodaka quickly thrust her blade at the shape-shifter, each blow parried, but only barely.

The exchange of blows was happening so fast Krahka barely had time to collect her footing. She was so busy making sure that she wouldn't get cut that she failed to notice Roodaka bring her leg up and knee her harshly in the gut. The rahi let out a choked gasp as she nearly keeled forward, inwardly cursing herself for her slow reflexes. She gripped her proto-pistons tightly, and tensed up, waiting to feel the cold tip of her blade pierce her body.

The blow never came.

Unexpectedly, Roodaka suddenly jumped back wards. Krahka blinked, at first suspicious, but was quickly replaced with re-fund strength as she realized this was a perfect time to counter attack. Unfortunately, she never got the chance.

As the shape-shifter was just getting her bearings, Roodaka unleashed her Rhotuka Spinner. To her horror, Krahka found that she was too slow to dodge. Exhausted by the all the parrying, fighting, transforming and the massive energy wave, the rahi could do little to escape the spinner and let out a piercing cry as it hit her.

Immediately she felt herself transform. But it was not the usual metamorphosis that she had gone through millions of times before. This transformation was a forced, painful and unnatural transformation. Every fiber of her body cried out in agony, as the world around her disappeared and was replaced with a thick haze.

But Krahka was not going to let this stop her. She was not going to die, or let whatever powers Roodaka possessed control her. After all, she was a shape-shifter!

She focused all of her strength and willpower to stopping the transformation. Every time she felt claws grow from her hands, she shut her eyes and forced them to return to normal fingers, like those of the Toa. Likewise, for every tail, for every fang, for every unnatural (for a Toa) body part she feel in her body she would push back, in an effort to retain her form.

The pain was unbearable, and she had not sense of time. She had no clue as to what Roodaka was doing, if she was approaching her, preparing to kill her, or what. It was all secondary.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Krahka felt the pain slowly go away and found that she could retain the same form. The poison had finally passed. What was once a nightmarish throbbing in her entire body was now just exhaustion.

She opened her eyes and realized another grim reality. Though the transformation was over and done with, she found that she little strength to do anything else.

She watched as Roodaka approached her from the corner of her eye, watching her like a vulture eyed a carcass just before it feasted. The rahi bit back a pang of fear that found its way into her heart. Was this it? Was she going to die?

"How disappointing." Roodaka sneered. "You are untrained, undisciplined. You only managed to hurt my arm."

Krahka simply glared at her, though her glower looked much more pitiful than it did angrily. She simply didn't have enough strength, or enough will-power, to manage anything more.

"Still... you do show some promise." Roodaka continued, surprising the rahi. The viceroy smiled softly. "As a shape-shifter, you do have next to limitless power at your disposal... and it would be a shame to see that all go to waste."

_I do not like where this is going..._

Roodaka leaned in closer. "As of now, you are not strong at all. You could not kill me. But perhaps with some training, you could prove... useful."

Krahka eyes locked onto her's, considering her words. She was offering her a truce...!

"So what say you, rahi? Do you wish to join me?" The viceroy unsheathed her sword and pointed it at her neck. "Or... do you decline my generous offer?"

Krahka narrowed her eyes. This was not a choice, it was an order. Join or die. There was no option.

She was too weak to attack, too tired to transform. There was no other way. But still, she just felt she couldn't do it. Side with the ones she had vowed to kill, the ones she knew were pure evil...

Like she had been once...

No, no! She had never been like _them_ before... had she?

_Join me... or die._

Krahka glanced up, a determined gleam in her eye. No. There was only one choice.

"I choose..."

Nokama awoke to some very interesting conditions.

First, when she woke up, an incredibly foul and disgusting stench assaulted her nose. It was so bad she was almost knocked out again.

Second, she was aware of some stone-cold objects wrapped tightly around her waist, and some semi-warm pressing against her back.

Thirdly, she suddenly realized that this was all Matau's doing.

The green Hordika had apparently taken to snuggling with her during the night. It was probably just to keep each other warm, a reasonable thing to do in Ko-Metru snow lands. But, being as she was a Hordika, and smelling his breath had somehow caused her sense of control to go out of whack, Nokama had immediately taken his actions to be something that was much dirtier (though, knowing him, she was probably half-right).

"GET OFF OF ME YOU CREEP!" Nokama shouted, breaking out of his grasping and whacking him hard on the snout.

"YEOWCH! Not again-!" Matau cried, suddenly woken from his dreaming state. It took him a few seconds to register just what was going on. "Hey- whuh? Nokama-"

She whacked him again.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For your terrible breath!" Nokama hissed. "Just what did you think you were doing!?"

"I don't know, what was I doing?" Matau asked, clearly confused.

Nokama growled again. "You know what." she hissed.

Matau narrowed his eyes and growled back. Normally, he would've kept his temper in better control when it came to her, but after what he had been through last night, he was not in the mood. He had just been rudely awoken from a very nice dream, and was being yelled at by a very moody female Hordika- his pride could only take so much.

The two glared at each other for a long while, growling and hissing. Their eyes were locked with each other's, each waiting for the other's first move. Right now, their minds were blank- all they could think about was defending their dignity.

Nokama barred her teeth, her pupils shrinking into her eyes. Then, she lunged-

WHACK!

Nokama whimpered in pain as Gaaki appeared and whacked her with her walking stick, immediately snapping out of her feral thoughts. She could see from the corner of her eye Iruini was dealing with Matau in a similar way.

"There is no need for fighting!" Gaaki scolded, glaring at her younger.

Nokama pushed back the curse that entered her mind. "Gaaki? What did... what happened to me?" she asked weakly.

The blue Rahaga stared at her. "It was nothing much." she said softly. "Forget about it."

Nokama frowned. _No, it was something..._ she realized. _We were fighting. We were both ready to kill each other, and for what? For a stupid misunderstanding..._ Guilt overcame her as the thought settled in.

Was this really what they had become? Mere mindless animals who killed and fought each other over the simplest things? She remembered the ash bear, the animal she had so brutally murdered before. She wondered what would had happened if Gaaki and Iruini hadn't intervened now- would Matau have wounded up like that poor rahi she killed? She shivered, and this time it wasn't from the cold.

She glanced up at Matau, who was purposely avoiding eye-contact. Although he tried to suppress it, she could see he was thinking the same thing.

"Matau... I'm sorry." Nokama apologized, taking a step to wards him. "I- I didn't mean to explode like that."

"...Don't worry-fret about it." Matau replied.

Iruini sighed and shook his head. "Toa these days..." he muttered under his breath.

"Okay, we're awake-up now. So what do we do?" Matau asked. "When do we go rescue-save our friends?"

"When the time is right." Iruini replied. "Right now, the Visorak are sure to still be on high-alert since our escape. To attempt a rescue mission now would be suicide."

"That may be true, but surely you don't think that we should just sit around and wait for things to calm down, do you?" Nokama pointed out. "Despite these bodies we possess, we are still Toa- and Toa with a duty to fulfill."

"We know this, Nokama." Gaaki nodded her head. "And while your enthusiasm is admirable, you must remember that Matau is still weak, and avoiding capture from the Visorak alone will prove difficult. We have to keep ahead of them, we can't risk another encounter."

"All we've been doing is running-away. I'm getting sick-tired of it!" Matau growled. "We've run away from the hordes, from the archives, from our Toa-brothers- this is not what Toa-heroes do!"

"I know you're frustrated, Matau. But for once in your life, you need to think things over. You will do your brothers no good if you are captured-"

"Don't you care?!" Matau interrupted. "Your own friends were captured by the Visorak, too! Aren't you even the least bit worried-scared for them!?"

"Of course I am!"

"Really? 'Cuz you sure don't act like it!" the green Hordika let out a venomous hiss, leaning into the Rahaga's face. Bad mistake. Iruini promptly boinked him on the head once again.

Matau reared back and clutched his injured head, whimpering in pain.

"I may be a lot of things, Matau." Iruini began, his eyes narrowing into slits. "But a person who abandons his friends, I am not. And don't you ever think like that!"

Gaaki sighed quietly. _So much tension... we are all on edge, and right now, at each other's throats. If things keep up like this, the Visorak won't be our main problem._ "We all agree that something must be done. But before we can do anything, we must calm down. Fighting amongst ourselves will do no good and only further delay us. I propose we focus on getting out of this frozen wasteland and moving on to another Metru."

"I agree." Nokama nodded. "It is obvious that none of us are very good in the cold. We should leave now. The only question is where."

Matau glanced up and mumbled something under his breath, too low for any of them to make out but was most obviously a complaint. Iruini shot him an irritated glance.

"Is there something helpful you'd like to suggest, Matau? Then speak up." he ordered. His reply was a snort.

Nokama shook her head despairingly, annoyed by the male Hordika's attitude, yet she could not fully blame him for being so difficult. A lot of things were happening in a space of little time, and it was obvious that they were all anxious to rescue their friends.

_These emotions of anxiety are building up inside of us. Coupled with our unstable rage, we may be more of a danger to ourselves than realize._ she thought, glancing down at her hands, wishing that her claws had been replaced once again with the fingers of that of a Toa. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she wished, prayed or begged, nothing short of finding Keetongu (if he even existed) could grant her desire.

Sidorak tapped the armchair of his throne irritably as he stared down at his viceroy. His eyes were gleaming from the shadows of the dimly lit coliseum room, giving him a dangerous aura that even intimidated some of the Visorak. Roodaka, however, showed no sign of fear. Her face was expressionless, impossible to read. It just made him all that more angry.

"I will ask you once again, Roodaka." he began. "What happened?"

Roodaka bowed respectively, knowing that such an action had a somewhat calming effect on the Visorak leader. "A minor problem, my liege." she told him.

"Minor?" Sidorak spat, clearly not in the mood for small talk. "You call infiltrating our defenses and knocking down one of our walls _minor_?!"

"To be fair, my lord, the being in question _was_ a shape-shifter, and, as you can guess, they are notoriously difficult to detect." Roodaka pointed out. "However, I was able to find it and dispose of it before it could do any... permanent damage."

Sidorak's breathing became louder, as his gasps turned to snorts. "That is exactly the problem." he rumbled. "Tell me, why did you not let the _Visorak_ deal with the intruder once you discovered it? Because of your actions, you have been hurt!" his gaze locked onto the viceroy's bandaged arm. "I should not have to have wasted medical treatment on you."

"A careless mistake, something that I will not make again." Roodaka replied. Although her tone was calm, one could tell by the flash in her eyes that she was not happy about the comment. "I could not send the Visorak to deal with the enemy, however, because it was, I remind you, a shape-shifter. My special... talents were specifically needed." she tapped her rhotuka spinner lightly to illustrate her point.

Sidorak's glare had not lightened, indicating that he was not satisfied with her explanation. "Are you saying that my horde is not adequate for you?" he asked.

"Of course not, my lord! I simply thought to make the battle go faster by doing it myself." Roodaka said. "Anyway, you should not worry. The threat of the shape-shifter has been neutralized... permanently."

Sidorak leaned back in his throne as he crossed his arms. "Very well, then. I trust your judgment." he spoke. "Now, begone! I wish to 'address' my... prisoners."

Roodaka bowed again, a wicked grin appearing across her face at the mention of his 'prisoners'. "With your blessing, my liege." she said, before disappearing into the shadows of the hallway, closely fallowed by her Boggarak guards.

Sidorak followed her trail as she left, studying her every move. There was something odd about her today, he thought. What exactly, he did not know.

_It matters not._ the Visorak King told himself. _She is a woman and my viceroy. She would not dare to do anything without my consent, she adores me._ A smile found its way onto his mask as his thoughts turned from his queen-to-be on to his prisoners.

He turned around to a group of cages, suspended in the air. Inside the cages, four large lumps lay there, unmoving and seemingly dead. Sidorak knew better, however, and approached them.

Sidorak unsheathed his sword and poked the cage with its edge, stirring the inside. "I'm sorry," he sneered. "I do believe we were in the middle of a conversation before this whole shape-shifting fiasco started." he peered inside. "Let's get back to our business, shall we?"

Roodaka walked down the hallways, the only noises following her came from the clicking of her heels and the tapping of the Boggarak's feet. "Sidorak is indeed a fool..." she muttered. "With such a one-track mind. It is amazing he ever managed to become king of anything."

She stopped suddenly, chuckling to herself. "Which makes him the perfect pawn." she purred, as her chuckles slowly transformed into laughter. "Today has been an excellent day. I have gained a new ally... one who should prove to be very... useful."

She grinned and turned to her single bodyguard. "You know what to do." she thundered. "Go. Find the remaining Toa, and bring them back here... dead or alive."

The Boggarak then did the oddest thing that any Visorak could ever do. It looked up at its queen and spoke in perfect Matoran.

"Yes, my queen." The Krahka bowed.

_To be continued..._

A/N: Good grief. This chapter went through SO many revisions. First I was going to have Sidorak interrupt the fight and Krahka would get away and not join, but then I realized that meant the entire fight and infiltration would just be a big waste of time. Then I thought I could have Krahka run away and return to Roodaka with full intents to join, but something just seemed kind of... wrong, with it. Then I could NOT think of what to do with the Hordika scene. Didn't know if I wanted it to be kind of funny, or if I wanted to have Nokama dream something horrible that would freak her out again which would lead her to run away... very confusing.


End file.
